Creag Meagaidh is a place that has always appealed to me, but I didn’t get a chance to head there last season. On a forecast for the day to improve as it went on, I headed up to Coire Adair today, with the aim being to ski Raeburn’s or Easy Gully.
True to the forecast, having driven over from Dalwhinnie in a full-on blizzard, as I walked in to the corrie the clouds parted to reveal a phenomenal wintery scene. Raeburn’s gully looked sketchy, with obvious windblown snow overlaying ice on steeper sections, so the decision to head up Easy Gully was easy. Skinning up to a safe point to transition to climbing kit, I ascended up lovely stable windblown powder. As I climbed up, the sun high on the Post Face was starting to send increasing amounts of stuff down in to the gully. What started with spindrift turned in to occasional bits of ice. At about 2/3rds height, I took this as an indication to get going with the decent.
Finding a fairly sheltered spot, I dug myself a good ledge, sorted getting skis on, and headed down. What amazing snow! Stable, but sloughing; amazing fun skiing, in an amazing location, in perfect weather, with just myself for company.
It is days like this which remind me how excellent the skiing in our back garden is; it always feels like I’m stealing a day from someone when it turns out like this. I will be back to Creag Meagaidh; the potential here is huge.
