Friday 23 February

Club members assembled gradually over Friday afternoon into the evening,
travelling from north and south along the West Highland Line. Arriving
at the iconic Corrour Station, each party was greeted by a sight that
has been in relatively short supply this winter: deep white snow
stretching from the station platform to the tops of all the nearby
peaks.

In the stunning setting of the Loch Ossian Youth Hostel the group
gathered, shared a few drinks and started to get excited about the
prospects for the weekend’s adventures. A consensus grew around a plan
to make a horseshoe route around Leum Uilleim and search for skiable
lines.

Saturday 24 February

After a hearty breakfast of porridge and hot cross buns and after
Lina’s arrival on the early morning train, the majority of the group
geared up and made the short ski carry back towards Corrour Station.
Hilary stayed behind to enjoy the beautiful setting of Loch Ossian and
to enjoy a freezing swim out to some of the loch’s picturesque
islands. While most of us were able to get skis and skins on from the
station, Adam discovered that his skins were still on his kitchen table
back in Inverness and was forced to turn back and make the long return
trip to retrieve them.

The rest of the group continued up the main ridge of Leum Uilleim in
great spirits as the sun began to shine and the snow grew deeper. Some
of the group were even down to their t-shirts and many were applying
suncream, giving a real alpine feel to the morning.

One more team member was forced to turn back as Giulia suffered a
catastrophic failure of her pin bindings. Despite a valiant team effort
to bodge a fix with ski straps and duct tape, and even an attempt to
continue on foot in waist deep snow, she eventually admitted defeat and
headed back for a solo run up Beinn na Lap.

Skins were eventually removed for a short ski off the west side of Leum
Uilleim where we quickly found out that while the snow might have looked
good, it definitely did not ski good.

After continuing on to Beinn a Bhric, the group split in two, with some
continuing round the horseshoe back toward Corrour, and others making an
optimistic descent of the south face of Beinn a Bhric, where any hope
that the snow might be less wet and heavy was short lived.

As both teams made the descent down the long north east ridge of Beinn a
Bhric we were caught by Lucy who had arrived in the morning and charged
around the horseshoe route solo to catch us up. Unglamorous combat
skiing followed as we made our way through porridge snow, rocks, heather
and bog back towards Corrour and the short walk home to the Hostel.

After a long, hot day of challenging Scottish skiing several of the
group braved an icy moonlit dip in the loch which resulted in much
shrieking and squealing.

With Jim arriving during the day, we were now at full complement for the
evening. There was an enormous amount of restaurant quality food
prepared and we recharged from the day with two different chilli dishes,
two types of pasta, various crumbles and a banana loaf.

 

The evening’s entertainment consisted of a brilliant musical
performance, with Duncan on Bodhran and Chris treating us to a beautiful
medley on the tin whistle.

Sunday 25 February

Sunday began with bacon rolls and a range of different objectives for
the group. Adam, reunited with his skins, set off early to explore the
east side of Carn Dearg. Mhairi and Graeme squeezed in a quick hike of
Beinn na Lap to give Graeme enough time to catch his train south. Giulia
and Tabi trail ran to the summit of Carn Dearg and back and Hilary
explored around Loch Ossian. Jim was happy to wait until the very late
train home so set off on a solo adventure.

The rest of the group headed-up for a ski tour of Beinn na Lap, enjoying
beautiful views back towards Glencoe, Ben Nevis and the Mamores, Some
slightly better skiing snow was found high on the south face, but
quickly gave way to sparse and heavy conditions which made for an
entertaining descent back down to the Hostel.

The beautiful West Highland Line gave us one last treat as we rode home
in beautiful sunshine on one of the world’s most beautiful train
rides, reflecting on a wonderful weekend spent skiing bad snow with good
people.

Stuart