Pentland Pole Plants
Sunday 20th December
by Jan, photos by Jan and Clare
The trouble with the Pentland Hills, is that even though they may look white, there is actually not enough snow for any enjoyable skiing ... so we (Lynn, Clare C, Nick and Jan) started off with very modest ambitions, and headed for Hillend! Disappointingly the coffee shop was still closed and it looked very grey and windy outside. After poring over our maps we thought we might raise our ambitions a little ... and headed off for the West Linton golf course!
Just before Silverburn, we noticed a well covered track leading from the road up into the hills, and thought we might give it a try. As we put on our skis, I noticed that I was surrounded by Telemarkers, and began to wonder if I might perhaps be overdressed with my alpine touring skis! Never mind the sun was shining and the snow was dry, so onward and upward.
Having gained the first ridge, some members of the party were still lacking in ambition – but were eventually persuaded to go for a summit (Carnethy Hill), and we were rewarded with fine views to Berwick Law, the Ochils etc etc.
More poring over the map while we tried to work out a reasonable route, with good enough snow, and eventually settled on a southerly direction loop.
This decision was almost immediately rewarded with a reasonable enough snow slope which allowed enough room for turns, on the ski down to the main ridge pathway. Although we had originally thought to just go around the Eastern flank of Scald Hill, the presence of a Trig Point, persuaded the group to support Lynn’s ambition to bag it.
The ski down was interesting, but even the heathery areas had enough snow on them to allow reasonable progress, and once on the main path, the skis flew along, all the way back to the car.
The descent was made particularly interesting by Nick’s demonstrations of telemark jump turns, with his impressive pole planting technique.
A warming snack at the Steading near Hillend then allowed us to review another grand day out on the hills – with no walking!