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Even more adventurous training

Another week for me working with Ron's Talisman Adventurous Training Group and much more amenable weather this time!

Our first day was a navigation day in the Lairig Ghru and over Castle Hill then on day two, we walked into Coire an t-Sneachda and up to point 1141 and on to Cairngorm summit. It was a beautiful sunny day with huge views across the snow covered mountains.

Our next three days were spent out on expedition again up the Lairig Ghru to the snowhole site I had used before. This meant that there were already some good snowholes so we renovated them, linked them all up with tunnels and built walls on Thursday then navigated our way up Sron na Lairig in thick cloud on Friday before getting back to the snowholes for our second night. On Saturday we were up early for the walk back out.

Another fun day at skiing at Cairngorm

Ron and I had a few runs in the ski area to begin with especially enjoying the Ciste Gully area. After a while we found ourselves back at the Ptarmigan Restaurant so after a quick break for lunch we stuck the skins onto the skis and headed up to the summit. From there, we had a great run down the south side of Cairngorm then skins on again to get back up to Windy Col.
Then the fun began with a jump over a little cornice and a descent down the slope underneath the Mess of Pottage. I must admit that I thought we were heading towards the easier slopes but hey...if Ron could do it, I could follow! My descent began ok then I had a bit of a hiccup with a couple of turns which left me a bit covered in snow but after that it was all good! After reaching Ron I wanted to go back up to ski down again without falling into the snow!
The visibility deteriorated too so after a long traverse and a few nice turns we were back in the ski area and to enjoy a couple more runs before heading home. Another great day out on the skis!
See Ron's video of two fantastic days skiing here

Skiing at Cairngorm

Ron and I had such a good day out skiing at Cairngorm yesterday that we went back for more today! The snow was just incredible and after a few runs working our way up the ski area, we traversed off towards Coire Laogh Mor in search of fresh powder to ski. We poled our way across some huge drifts, a bit like skiing over sand dunes, then flew down into the coire on the perfect, powdery snow. The shuttle bus was running every half hour between the Ciste and the Cas car parks so back up and across to ski another descent of the coire. Ron has the video clips from us both so it will be interesting to see what he does with them.

As the day went on, more lifts were up and running although there still seemed to be a lot of digging going on at the track for the funicular.

Going back for even more skiing tomorow! It is so good to be floating on the snow rather than wading through it.