UKH

After having a great time ski touring a few months ago I'm looking for recommendations for late season descents...not to steep (still learning), reliable, the longer the better. Something I can walk up to, either skin up or stay in trainers to the top, then enjoy sliding down.

In reply to Roberttaylor:

I am assuming by "not too steep", you mean not gully skiing. Plenty of options this time of year for long descents in the Cairngorms, particularly if you don't mind cycling and walking.

The Escalator on Braeriach is superb. You should be able to ski most of it from the top of Braeriach, but there may be a really short walking section. It's worth it. Descent the NW shoulder above Coire an Lochain, then head for the right hand of the marked streams on the map. You will see it if you cycle up Glen Einich, and can either walk beside it, or ski up. Although I haven't skied them yet, the big West facing corries of Braeriach (Coire nan Clach and Coire Bogha-cloiche) were looking great a couple of weeks ago.

Allt a Choire Mhoir, Taillears Burn and Caochan na Cothaiche on Ben Macdui are all great. I don't know what shape they are in right now, but imagine you should be able to get pretty low on all of them:
http://www.steepscotland.info/ben_macdui/

A little steeper than these, the East face of Cairn Toul. An absolutely superb line. You ski off the top into Coire an t-Sabhail (northern end the easiest), and can usually get down to near enough the River Dee. http://www.steepscotland.info/CairnToul/

If you want considerably easier, the Allt Garbh on Beinn Bhrotain is a nice long cruise.

In reply to Roberttaylor:


Taillears was fine on Saturday but didnt quite touch down at the path (which was a hideous slush fest!) How much of the lower section was superficial I dont know but its stil la great way down. The harder entrance near the summit of Macdui was heavily corniced.
Allt a Choire Mhoir was also skied on Saturday and looked really good. We skinned up it from the path.
I would have though that you'd still be able to skin most of the way into macdui
For less walking but a bit steeper then maybe the goat track. Maybe it'll also not be as icy as Saturday!

In reply to Roberttaylor:
You don't say where you're based, if the south side of the Cairngorms is closer for you than the north, consider Beinn A'Bhuird - snow usually lasts a long time in the upper parts of the Dubh Ghleann

But I'm a long way from Scotland at the moment so not sure what current conditions are like, maybe also try winterhighland ?

In reply to Roberttaylor:

Did the northwest side of Ben Lui on Friday, it was very good and not too long a walk, but it might not survive the current thaw.
Last year on the Ben we did Coire Leis and up the ridge to the summit, all the way from CIC to summit on skis, on 31st May. Coire Leis is not too steep, only about 25-30º at the top.
Big descents off Ben Macdui into the Lairig Ghru are good, as others have said. and while it is then a long walk out at least it is a fairly good , fairly dry path.

In reply to Roberttaylor:

Any suggestions for the Glencoe area ? I'm toying with heading up in a week or so and stay in Fort William.

In reply to david000:

There was great cover a couple of weeks ago when I was up in the Three Sisters corries. I haven't seen it for a bit, and having been away for a few days don't have a handle of the impact of the current rain / thaw, but by the looks of it the big faces (massacre, paradise etc) and gullies will be in for a while.

In reply to david000:

I'm hopefully out over there this weekend (if the weather plays fair) so I'll try to report back on Monday.

In reply to david000:

Was in SCnL on Saturday. Saturated snow pack but good fun. Plenty in the main gullies and the corrie floor. The lochans aren't covered any more.

In reply to NottsRich:

Ta guys

I'm going to be working in Scotland for a few days next week and I'm considering options for tagging on a day in the hills. Is anywhere likely to still have decent 'hike-n-slide' opportunities or should I just go for a walk?

I've not been able to find any recent pictures showing snow cover on the east faces of Aonach Mor or CMD. Mid-May blog pics of the Ben looked like it was all but gone. I'm happy to head to Cairngorms, although forecast looks like low cloud is a distinct possibility. Any recent info appreciated ...

In reply to FATBOYFAT:

Don't know what pictures you were looking at of the Ben, as Number 3 and 4 were fine to the lochans in Coire Na Ciste at the weekend, and you can still ski Tower/Observatory Gully to level with the foot of NE Buttress (500m of vertical). You can ski the top section of Number 5 to the first set of narrows, below which it's broken. Number 2 saw a partial descent on Sunday as well from below the narrows. It's complete, but there's debris and runnels to contend with. Plenty of pictures on the British Backcountry facebook group, and a few here:
http://www.scomuir.com/scoweb/routes/season.asp?seasonID=64&theDayID=54...

In reply to Scomuir:

Thanks for the speedy and helpful reply - I was thinking I'd left it too late.

I did look at scomuir.com a few days but the most recent post was still An Teallach. The Ben pic was via a friend but it only showed the lower part of Ciste and it wasn't taken with skiing in mind.

Do you think CMD bowls or Back Corries are still holding enough to be worthwhile? A climber friend fancies trying some touring but N Face gullies are a bit much for his skiing. As far as I know he's never done any skinning so somewhere with some low-angle terrain available would be perfect, even if we still had to boot pack to ski.

In reply to FATBOYFAT:

Life kind of gets in the way, so I don't update the site as quickly any more. It's a guess, but would imagine the East facing bowls off CMD are not in great shape. It's a guess. There will be some snow, didn't see how much. If you are on Facebook, as well as the British Backcountry group "Mark Back Corries" posts pictures of Aonach Mor.

Whatever you do, I wouldn't bother taking the skins. For snowy low angle terrain, i'd head for the Cairngorms instead. Large areas of snow still there if heading in for Macdui.

In reply to Scomuir:

Does anyone know how Aladdin's Couloir is in t'Sneachda? The last photo I saw looked very skinny in the middle - is it a fragile bridge or wide enough to sideslip through?

Hopefully the Ben will stay good for a few more weeks, and I'll get a chance to get up there! Looks like it's freezing at night up there at the moment which is good news.

In reply to NottsRich:

http://tarmachan.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/blog-post_26.html

In reply to Scomuir:

Thanks, looks like it's worth a shot. I wonder how narrow the skinny bit is...