HUSKIES (and ski mountaineering)

We had aimed for skiing the Northern Coires and plateau of the Cairngorms, accessed from the Glenmore/Cas ski road, but with 70mph winds forecast, we scanned a little further and found that the eastern Cairngorms were forecasting a little lighter on the winds and maybe a smidgeon of blue sky too.   



 

Lunch in the sun. Ski mountaineering is all about journeying through the mountains and that means that you need ski up hill too. This is done by fitting a 'skin' to the bottom of the skis. It's just like fur - smooth in one direction, bristly in the other. Surprisingly, these bristles are enough to hold the skier's weight as they tackle a slope. If it's icy underski then you clip a ski crampon on too - rather like blades that slice in to the ice or neve while still allowing the skier to slide their ski upwards.  

Theo, Sophia, Catriona and Scott on the summit of Carn Ealasaid, the Cairngorms rolling on in the background.

The team strip the skins from their skis in a huddle before the descent.

We might have felt that we'd earned ourselves some lovely 'back country' powder...apparently not. Looks nice though.

Theo gets some air time



Huddling again before the final descent.

On Sunday we were lucky enough to see a little of the annual husky racing event at Glenmore.  

Oh my. I'm a bit nervous of dogs.

Absolutely petrified here.

We did manage to tear ourselves away from these husky pups and got some good skiing. Despite a prolonged thaw overnight the skiing was GREAT. We had a breezy (!) ski uphill and then a rewarding descent. Cat did fantastically well - it was her first time on skis and even though the snow was less than perfect over the weekend, she remained upright almost all of the time (just as challenging going up hill in those winds at times). It seems that we have some new recruits for the delights of ski mountaineering.


It can take you places like this.....: