By Mairi Keenleyside and Phil Tomalin

The Laggan cabin owned by the JMSC Edinburgh is one mile east of Laggan. From a ski touring point of view it is ideally located having access to the Drumochter hills as well as further West to Craig Meagaidh and beyond.

Leading up to the weekend the usual flurry of WhatsApp messages started with regards to snow and weather conditions as well as the finer points of food preparation. To be honest, I was wondering why I would go and stay and a damp hut with a bunch of people I barely know, mostly half my age.

The cabin sleeps 10 people, two in a private room, like the teachers room. The other eight people are accommodated on 2 platforms in another room. The hut is quite well equipped and has a wood burner making it quite cosy. There is limited telephone reception (no reception for O2 customers) but people on other networks appeared to have more connection. The trip was a gathering of people travelling from Edinburgh, Stirling, Aberdeen as well as further north making for a convivial atmosphere on the meet, most people not really knowing each other in advance.

Saturday – Drumochter

I have long seen the Drumochter  hills as somewhere you pass when travelling up and down the A9. While it has crossed my mind that several tracks might be useful for cycling, I had not really thought of it as an elite ski touring destination. After much consideration on the Saturday morning, we split into two teams 1 going to the Fara just West of Loch Ericht. The perhaps not so speedy team decided to be lured by the track from the A9 just south of the Wade bridge which heads east up to a disused quarry and point 902 metres, SW of Carn na Cain.

Fortunately, we did not have to carry the skis for too long and there was a reasonable consolidation of snow in the path which goes essentially South then more E up the mountain. The biggest battle of the day proved not to be the snow conditions, tight boots or our skiing ability but rather 40 to 45 mile per hour gusting wind. Undeterred we carried on up the mountain not quite to the top as visibility ‘disimproved’ but then headed north and into the gulleys. We had been eyeing these from the road and on the way up. We initially tackled the gully closest to the path but then had a wind assisted traverse over to a much better gully which is marked by a number of fence posts.

On this line we managed to find great snow conditions, easy angled slopes and made our way down towards our original starting path. At the bottom of our run we had to do a bit of a heather trudge, crossing a stream and bog to get back onto our original path. I definitely think Scottish skiing should be seen as a separate sport as it bears no resemblance to Alpine or even foreign ski touring. I hadn’t realised that one of the hazards, perhaps not covered in an IBSC safety course, involved falling into a bog on the return to the path. [It’s Scotland – normal! Ed.] My teammates were on hand to pull me out and before long I was wondering if this squelchy march back to the car, might remould in a better fashion, for walking, my new ski boots. A visit to the Apiary café (another new worthwhile discovery) proved a pleasant end to our tour.

Saturday: ‘The Fara’ Group

Dan, Jacob, Phil, Alistair, Steven, and Matt went up the Fara, by Dalwhinnie. The first time any of us been up there – very nearly a Munro at 911m. It was a cold windy day, but snow fields were found although a bit crusty in the north facing bowl at the top. The best skiing and split-boarding (Jacob) was above 750m on the east side of the north east ridge above Dalwhinnie. The visibility disappeared in the afternoon leading to an enjoyable descent along small burn lines through the heather down to Allt a’Ghiubhais at 550m.

The evening was passed in the Hut preparing an eating a feast which would envy any Christmas dinner. Various plans including the wall at Craig Meagaidh were discussed for the following day but it was decided that the weather forecast was not really obliging and that we would be as well to take advantage of the height gain by driving to the Cairngorm car park. There was no big rush to leave as the weather was to improve after 11:00 AM.

Sunday

On arriving at the car park we opted to skin up  Windy Ridge to the Ptarmigan cafe which thankfully was open. We met with the others in the speedy group who were going to look into the Ciste gully and report to us on conditions. We too skied down Ciste gully where the conditions were quite mixed. We thought that if we skied the full Gully this might limit our options time wise for finding better snow elsewhere on the mountain.

So another transition and we then skinned up again and at the top of the lift had a fortuitous meeting with a guy who had been skiing over at the area known as “the numbers”. (This is where the numbered contour lines are marked on the map). We decided to follow their tracks and skin over for a wee look. This turned out to be our best decision. We managed to find almost spring snow like conditions with good visibility, enjoying our last run down of the trip. Scotland is like that, it lures you in for more.  Following this we skinned up and then retraced our steps down Windy Ridge skiing almost all the way to the car park.

So yes, it absolutely was worth it to go and stay in a damp hut with a bunch of people I barely knew. In dubious weather I am inclined to not go out on the hill.  The enthusiasm and pooled knowledge of the group made for two fine days of Scottish Skiing. Thanks to Becky Race for being the Trip Contact for this weekend, she did such a great job I’m sure she will be asked again.