Slochd Mhor
Friday 5th - Sunday 7th February
By Bern
Thanks to Alan, Cathie, Jan and Lynn for the photos!
As a new club member, and having only taken up skiing last year, I was finding it difficult to decide which club meet I should sign up for. Looking at the list on the website gave me only a few clues about what level of skill and experience might be expected. Would I be able to keep up? I imagined myself balancing nervously on an icy ridge somewhere with my fellow skiers swooping expertly into the mists below, or worse, everyone leaning on their poles and muttering impatiently whilst waiting for me. So this weekend trip to Slochd which was organised as a special ‘buddy’ weekend sounded reassuring and I decided to go for it.
It was dark when we arrived on Friday evening but the forecast was good and, peering about, there seemed to be snow right round the bunkhouse, which boded well.
On Saturday morning we chatted for a bit by the front of the bunkhouse before heading off in four groups, which had been roughly sorted according to experience and ability.
Most of us decided to see if we could avoid driving anywhere and, enjoying the luxury of skiing from the front door, contented ourselves with exploring the tracks roundabout....
... some downhill racing practice...
... and a little bit of heather skiing – useful skill in Scotland apparently!
Our buddies were careful to demonstrate relevant techniques including the all important one of how to fall over and keep smiling...
We finished the day with an exciting romp down a pylon break in the trees and got back to the bunkhouse just as daylight was fading.
The most intrepid group comprising Hamish and Jan, and led by Claire S (unfortunately also the one which included the chef for the evening) headed over to Bynack More for an assault on the summit. This from Jan is an account of their day:
"The snow cover and visibility at Glenmore Lodge were quite reasonable, but we already knew that the upper reaches of BM would be in the cloud, so some extra navigational aids might be useful. Accordingly we adjusted the altimeters and captured a GPS waypoint. Somewhat disappointingly the track did require some occasional mud hopping until beyond the Nethy footbridge, and eventually the visibility fell back to about 20 – 30m at around 750m. As the snow became ever more hard frozen we deployed harcheisen and then crampons. Progress continued steadily but was mostly discernible only from the altimeters.
Having reached the top (confirmed by altimeter and GPS), we then abandoned plans to ski down into Strath Nethy and started to retrace our steps. Due to a misunderstanding, H skied off down a rather enticing snow slope to the East at around 800m. C and J eventually caught up with him, and we then had to climb back up about 50m, to get back onto the correct side of the mountain again (the captured GPS waypoints were very reassuring here ...).
We lost the daylight at about 550m and continued on headtorches. As we passed the Pass of Ryvoan, we were greeted by the sight of three bobbing headtorches – thankfully it wasn’t Caroline on her way to tell us we were late for dinner, just some adventurous types heading up to a bothy!"
Meantime, back in the kitchen, once it became apparent that the cook was going to be otherwise occupied for some time, all hands were diverted to the concoction of dinner using found ingredients and guesswork. Miraculously it did emerge from the oven as a fish pie, entirely edible, and served up at the very moment that the three errant skiers finally walked through the door.
We watched rugby, played Jenga and drank quite a lot of wine before turning in. There were reports of loud ghostly noises in the bunkhouse that evening – curiously heard by no-one else except for the occupants of a remote cottage. Very mysterious.
On Sunday we all headed towards Aviemore. Some skinned up and climbed up through Corrie na Ciste,
... and had a sociable time on the way back down: "As we approached the end of the snow fence high up on the ridge, we saw some skis sticking up out of the snow – with no sign of anyone in the area. The mystery was solved when we looked round the other side of the fence to find Cathie, Alan and Martin, happily lunching! So we joined them – and then skied down back with them – until they headed off down towards Glenmore."
I contented myself with exploring the tracks above Loch Morlich, which was iced over and very beautiful.
The final event of the trip was an unadvertised and surprisingly well attended ski trouser convention just before closing time in Aviemore.