Yesterday I had a marvelous experience snowboarding at Glencoe, Scotland. My friend Doro from Hamburg, two of her friends, and I rode up with the Edinburgh University Skiing and Snowboarding Club. We left at the ungodly hour of 5 am - which was even worse since I had go to a law society dinner and got back to my flat much later than planned. It took us about three hours to get to Glencoe from Edinburgh.
It was really bizarre skiing at Glencoe, as there was no resort, village, guest house or any other amenity one would associate with a 'ski resort'. Since I snowboarded, I had problems with the palmer, t-bar, and rope toe. The two chair lifts were definitely appreciated. I did manage to make the t-bar with Doro on the other side, though it definitely test all your skill, as you are standing really close together, letting the bar pull you up the mountain and trying to stay balanced. We managed hahaha.... I never could get the hang of the palmer lift and snowboarders cannot do rope toes. My guess is that the last investment in the resort was about 1960, but it was really cute. It was especially funny hearing all the deep Scottish accents, as I would have not been surprised it the four of us were the only non-native Brits on the slopes.
I was reading skiing reports from across Europe and supposedly Scotland had the best skiing conditions for the past week. All news articles definitely added that it was a 100 year fluck and likely not to last very long. I will say, having snowboarded many times in Colorado and then at Port du Soleil this December, Glencoe really did have some of the best conditions I have ever boarding on. It wasn't powder like Colorado, but it had a different feel from the Alps. It was really heavy and wet and was definitely easy boarding. It was funny, but the pistes were not marked so once and a while were were skiing along an then all of a sudden one of us would sink in an area that was not packed. The piste map sign was at the bottom of the mountain, along with the sign that said stay on the pistes, because of high avalanche risk. We saw one avalanche, but it was one purposely started by the RAF across a valley. I would definitely go again and it was a super fun day.
It was really bizarre skiing at Glencoe, as there was no resort, village, guest house or any other amenity one would associate with a 'ski resort'. Since I snowboarded, I had problems with the palmer, t-bar, and rope toe. The two chair lifts were definitely appreciated. I did manage to make the t-bar with Doro on the other side, though it definitely test all your skill, as you are standing really close together, letting the bar pull you up the mountain and trying to stay balanced. We managed hahaha.... I never could get the hang of the palmer lift and snowboarders cannot do rope toes. My guess is that the last investment in the resort was about 1960, but it was really cute. It was especially funny hearing all the deep Scottish accents, as I would have not been surprised it the four of us were the only non-native Brits on the slopes.
I was reading skiing reports from across Europe and supposedly Scotland had the best skiing conditions for the past week. All news articles definitely added that it was a 100 year fluck and likely not to last very long. I will say, having snowboarded many times in Colorado and then at Port du Soleil this December, Glencoe really did have some of the best conditions I have ever boarding on. It wasn't powder like Colorado, but it had a different feel from the Alps. It was really heavy and wet and was definitely easy boarding. It was funny, but the pistes were not marked so once and a while were were skiing along an then all of a sudden one of us would sink in an area that was not packed. The piste map sign was at the bottom of the mountain, along with the sign that said stay on the pistes, because of high avalanche risk. We saw one avalanche, but it was one purposely started by the RAF across a valley. I would definitely go again and it was a super fun day.
