Friday's ski adventure!

End of season ski tour over to Ben MacDui before taking in Pinnacle Gully on the Shelterstone on the way back to Cairngorms piste.

An end of season ski tour via Lurchers, Ben MacDui, Shelterstone Gullies and back via the Cairngorm piste.
I had a look at Castlegates Gully just as two snowboarders arrived after boarding down Diagonal Gully earlier. I checked out both the gully entrances first, before skiing down Pinnacle Gully which was nice apart from the worrying rocky runout at the bottom - video later!
The snow was good in both the Shelterstone gullies with smooth soft spring snow on top of a firmer base.
Both Castlegates and Pinnacle gullies had tricky entrances, which I first down climbed, with the rocky runouts not a place to fall or ski if icy! More details and photo album on our Facebook page here.

Skiing Loch Avon 6th March 2016

Great snow and ice and a ski across Loch Avon!

Visibility was appalling for walking never mind skiing on Cairngorm but once I dropped down the east side and below the clouds fun was had with a great ski along the length of Loch Avon towards the Shelterstone!

Lots more photos and video from the Loch Avon basin on the 6th March 2016 showing Stag Rocks, Carn Etchachan, Shelterstone and Hells Lum here

Post Boxing Day turkey burn off!

An early start and a wee wander over the bitterly cold (-30 with wind chill!) Cairngorm plateau to check out the climbs in the Loch Avon basin.

Firm but grippy conditions underfoot couldn't have been better for crossing the plateau, to the Shelterstone for a wee look. Fortunately it was totally calm once we had descended into the Loch Avon basin. Snow conditions were excellent and well built-up, but the ice was thinner than I had expected and the snow more crusty on the steep north facing crags. We saw two climbers in Hells Lum and two heading up the Sticil Face but no one else! See the YouTube video here and a panorama of the Loch Avon crags here.

Despite Fi wearing all her layers, we were still cold and decided to abandon my intended mixed route, after faffing about trying to dig out gear. We head up a scenic gully, to keep warm and get back to the car in daylight!
Lots more photos and crag shots from the day are on our Winter Conditions 2012/13 Facebook album.