Creag Meagaidh and Aonach Mor

This was supposed to be the Ben Lawers weekend, but since there was no SOC interest Dave and I headed north to Creag Meagaidh. Arriving at our doss on Friday night I realised that I had forgotten my sleeping mat. No sleep for me then.

Up at 8am and off to Creag Meagaidh. Dave had borrowed my spare skins and was impressed by the novelty of skiing up hill. This was a good thing because since I had left the wax in the car we used the skins far more than I would have liked. Drop down into "The Window" still with skins on (yuk) and up to the top on thin slab. Hot and sunny on the top with marvellous views to the north where there were no clouds to be seen and the mountains were white.

There were no climbers about this weekend because there was too much snow in the gullies.

The skins came off for the downhill back to the car on excellent snow; two inches of powder on a firm but not hard base. Telemarks for me and some sort of hybrid turns for Dave who had '70's wooden alpine skis and Koflach's which weren't really compatible and were prone to pop out when twisting the skis hard. As we got lower the snow became heavier so jump turns took over from telemarks and they worked very well. Skied to the car.

Camping at Fort William on Saturday for £1 a night. Off in the morning to Aonach Mor with the possibility, if the weather stayed good, of Ben Nevis and down the side with the tourist track on it and back through the forest to the car. As it happened it took ages to get the gondola up and then we had to skin a thousand feet before catching a button tow to the top. The weather was looking dodgy so we didn't set out to Ben Nevis but went to the col just below Aonach Beag instead. Huge cornices. Caught a few lifts on the way down and had great fun on the slopes and in the snow board park where they have some very scary looking jumps where, with some speed you get more air time than you might like.

Then we went home and had our tea and it was very nice.

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	Swaledale Outdoor Club

Creag Meagaidh and Aonach Mor

Trevor Cousins