Snow!

Just a quick note to say that if you want to get in touch with us at Clachaig this week but no one's answering the phone, or your email reply is taking a little longer than usual then our apologies. We've probably all gone skiing!

MD Andy Meldrum outside the ticket office at Glencoe Mountain today 
Sunday 13th March 2011

Friday into Saturday, into the early hours of Sunday saw continuous snowfall at pretty much all levels. However, Glencoe village seemed to avoid the settling snow while Ballachulish saw several inches lying; a scene repeated in Fort William.

 The chairlift at Glencoe Mountain first thing this morning.

On the hills however, there's ridiculous amounts of the white stuff. Glencoe Mountain have had to dig out their ticket office, and that's just at the car park. Meanwhile, one of the best runs at Nevis Range today was back down under the gondola line, back to the car park - and that doesn't happen very often.

 Catch this! Nevis Range car park earlier today.

Conditions like these don't come often enough, so while they're here we hope you don't blame us for making most of them. Normal service will be resumed as soon as the legs are too tired...

(And jesting aside, power to the local transmitter mast has been interrupted, causing a loss of mobile signals. Not sure how long the problems will continue but be advised that mobiles in the Glencoe/Ballachulish area are likely to be without signal at the moment.)

Winter isn't over yet!

For everyone who thinks that the warmer temperatures of last week and the daffodils poking through in the garden mean that winter is over, think again! Snow is very much the weather of the moment, and chances are the folks at Clachaig will be hitting the slopes given a spare moment.

Tempted to join us? Read this press release from Glencoe Mountain and you will be!

‘There is more snow on the mountain now than ever!’ quotes ski patrol at Glencoe Mountain Resort who have managed to get up to the patrol hut for the first time in two days due to the storm. After a particularly vicious thaw in February it makes a most welcome change, just three days of high winds (which were recorded gusting 110mph!) and heavy snowfall, the entire resort is white again and all the gullies, streams and rock faces are covered in a smooth layer of packed powder snow. Even the run down to the car park (down at 305m) has been skied a few times already today.

 Looking good for the weekend - but eating your packed lunch could be a chilly affair

The resort has been quiet all season which means while many people rushed for the big centres of Glenshee and Cairngorm, Glencoe has managed to stay free of queues and car parking issues and with the A82 running past the front door, the road is usually the first to be cleared. The £30k of brand new Salomon skis and snowboards that arrived at ski hire have had a relatively easy winter so there isn’t they don’t have the ‘scottish hire ski syndrome’ of gouged bases, buckled edges and creaky bindings!

With the mountain being quiet the ski school have been able to spend lots of time building rails and boxes for the park with the help of the GPC (Glencoe Park Crew) last weekends ‘Freestyle Jam’ saw some really exciting action from some of the countries best skiers and boarders, Glencoe Mountain’s sponsored rider Hector Barbour took first place with some huge airs off the top kicker, good training for his next big event The Brits, out in Laax, Switzerland.

So if you are looking for the fresh stuff this weekend without getting stuck in queue, you will find Glencoe Mountain is the place to be!

www.glencoemountain.com
01855 851226

Winter has arrived!

There is no escaping the news that Winter has arrived in Scotland and with that the ski season is about to kick off. Being located close to Glencoe Mountain Resort they provided us with the following information to share with you.

View from the summit at Glencoe Mountain

Glencoe Mountain Resort, the UK’s original snow-sports destination is now gearing up for the 2010/2011 season. With heavy snow falling all over the country Glencoe looks like it is on track to have it’s earliest ever opening. For details about the opening date and to receive weather and news updates from the centre please go to www.glencoemountain.com/signup.html

Over the summer there has been lots going on at Glencoe including the creation of a brand new beginner’s area with its very own tow exclusively for the snow sports school. This will make the learning experience even better than before. Work is also ongoing with creating a brand new terrain park. This park will have exciting new features for advanced riders and also a brand new beginner’s area making the park accessible to all levels of skier and snowboarder. Freestyle lessons will be available on a daily basis through the snow sports school. If you need to hire skis or a snowboard then you won’t be disappointed – 70% of all our boards and skis are brand new for this season. We also for the first time ever have top of the range Trespass ski suits available for hire. This is on top of what’s always been available at Glencoe – namely the amazing off piste opportunities, the steepest black run in the UK, great natural gullies and features and some of the best beginner’s terrain in the country. Combine that with one of the best ski schools in the country, friendly staff and a great community feel and we are confident you will have a great time whatever the weather.

See you soon at Scotland’s original and best ski area www.glencoemountain.com

More biking news from Glencoe Mountain

Regular readers will have realised that, in line with other ski centres across the globe, Glencoe Mountain are looking to mountain biking as a summer/non-skiing activity.

 Glencoe Mountain Bike Trail Map

We'll leave you to read the latest update from Glencoe Mountain copied below (you can subscribe on their web site to receive these direct). But we'll just add that with the potential expansion of trails such as the Weasel Track, and new events such as the Macavalanche in the pipeline, there's every reason to get rather excited about these new developments.

This from Glencoe Mountain...

Downhill Biking

The downhill track is currently being upgraded with new jumps and features on the top section and some modifications to the bottom including a widening of the finish area to allow for overtaking in the finishing area.

Our KONA Stinky downhill bikes have at last arrived (only 3 months late). So if you don't have your own kit or don't want to bring it we have everything you need - goggles, gloves, full face helmets and body armour all for hire.

XC Biking

Some work on the Weasel track has been done so that those who prefer downhill XC biking can follow a rough 4km trail from the top of the chair down to the car park. This is a very rough trail which rides well in the dry but is still a little (or very) swampy when it's wet. Feed back on this trail has been mixed. From "brilliant old school XC mountain biking", "great fun" to "bl**** awful". The differences in view seem to be a combination of expectation and different weather conditions.

This is not a nicely manicured trail it is very rough and it is guaranteed you will get wet and muddy if you choose to ride it.

You may only have a few more months to try this trail in it's current state because we are currently applying for funding to get the track upgraded to a wide blue trail making it accessible to all standards of riders.

At the moment we would only suggest riding the track if you are comfortable riding red downhill trails. It can be ridden on a hard tail bike but it is more fun on a downhill bike.

We have a whole fleet of Kona Cindercone XC+ bikes for hire at the centre so if you want to bring a group up to try the weasel track or one of the more gentle, plateau or valley bottom trails then please phone Angela on 01855 851226 to check availability.

Downhill events

The next event at Glencoe is "Wild and Dialled" on the 4th and 5th of Sept. We are still accepting entries for this event so if you want to enter or just want more details just go to the link at the bottom of the page.

This will be an awesome spectator event so if you have nothing planned for the 4th and 5th of Sept come along and see some of the top riders in the country take on one of the toughest tracks in the UK. Spills and thrills are guaranteed.

See you at the centre soon.

Andy
P.S We are planning a ski/snowboard car boot sale at the centre on the 7th Nov. More details very soon.

Bikes and bows

 Glencoe Mountain Resort very kindly invited as many of us as could make it to come and see what's on offer during the summer months. And it would be rude to decline such an invitation so we played around with the diary a little and set off up the glen .

Can you spot Kingshouse?

The centre has been through difficult times of late. But under new ownership, a new lease of life has been brought to the longest established ski centre in Scotland, and there's already evidence that the centre will soon become a year round activity centre, with something on offer for everyone. The snow conditions for years this past winter have certainly helped and the momentum gained is now clearly continuing through the summer months.

I never knew that uphill on a mountain bike could so easy!

Sitting in the log cabin cafe with large picutre windows looking straight at Buachaille Etive Mor was an activity within itself. Coffee and cake was far more appealing than the Downhill Mountain Bike Course which was looming on the hillside just above us. However, Dangerous Will was up for it. He still had use of all of his limbs at the end but did mention something about going to the bike shop to replace some broken parts.

'Dangerous Will' looking confident

For the lesser mortals amongst us, we opted for a nice gentle ride up the chairlift with our bikes. We made a quick exploration of the plateau before opting for taking the weasel track down. Overgrown and washed out, this track dates back to some of the early days of gaining access to the hill, but is earmarked for development into a more formal biking track. In fact, speaking to Andy and the team, and listening to their ideas is both enlightening and refreshing.

Keep on through the snow fence to find the weasel track.

The weasel track has bags of potential and even in its current state was a good bit of fun. There's a few wash outs and bottomless swampy bits, but there's also long sections of good cruising and a few more challenging sections, including a couple of rock slabs. Great fun! And the view..!

Blasting the return to the centre, with the access road and Kingshouse clearly visible.

The tracks onto Rannoch Moor are begging to be explored by bike, and with a fleet of new Kona mountain bikes available for hire, Glencoe Mountain Resort is the ideal base from which to start.

Out of the black, into the red, nothing in this game for 2 in a bed. Smashing, super, lovely...

Back at the centre, we tried our hand at archery, a new activity for this summer.Strangely addictive, especially when your arrows end up around the centre but not in it. Just one more go! I can see a Clachaig staff tournament coming on. In fact, I've just had a brilliant idea for Octoberfest!

Want to buy a bike?

Want to buy a great bike, dirt cheap? Don't we all! But should you happen to be offered a "too good to be true" deal on a Kona then you might like to get in touch with Glencoe Mountain Resort. Here's a little press release...

A £1500 Mountain bike was stolen from Glencoe Mountain Resort on Saturday. The bike, a 17” 2010 Kona Stinky Six, was on loan to the resort from bike manufacturer Kona as a demo bike for riders to try out on the black graded downhill track. The bike was stolen around 11am from the front of the main building where it was on a rack alongside some of the resort’s 20 hire bikes.

Great to see Glencoe Mountain really getting back on it's feet again. Not great to hear that some miserable *^%$£"!(^*  has been helping themselves.