We were up just after 5am this morning for the long drive from Dumfries to Glenshee. We made good time and the traffic was not too big a problem. It was a cold frosty morning on leaving Dumfries and the sky was clear all the way to Blairgowrie from where we could see snow clouds up ahead. We had a short wait until the snow gates were opened at Spittal of Glenshee. A short time after 9am we were in the car park at the Ski centre. Temp in car was showing -2.5c when we arrived and when i walked over to the ticket office i could certainly feel the windchill. Lift tickets today cost £18 each. It was pretty quiet this morning as we made our way over to the Sunnyside Poma for our first lift of the season. The wind was gusting quite strongly as we reached the top. The snow was pretty decent with wide cover all the way back to the bottom.It felt like we had been riding all Summer as we got the lift back up again. This was our first turns since May and it sure felt good and i must say it is all the better to start the season on Scottish snow.
We then made our way across the road and up to the Butcharts access Poma. There was a good cover of fresh snow over here with little drifts all over the place which were sometimes difficult to see in the variable visibility. The sun tried to force its way out but the cloud and the snow showers were certainly winning and the light was very flat at times. Had a few runs then went for a bite of lunch. We then headed back up Butcharts Poma and this time the sun was forcing its way through the cloud and visibility greatly improved with the wind easing as well. In fact conditions were quite pleasant for a while and i was able to see that there was indeed an exceptional cover of snow for this time of year. We had some great fun traversing over from the top of the lift into Butcharts Coire where there was plenty of deep powder and it was still possible to make some fresh lines..amazing. We even saw someone losing a ski in the powder and having a bit of fun trying to locate it. The snow all the way down to the lift was dry and powdery at the top and packed powder further down,superb.
If the visibility had stayed clear before we left i had planned on riding down from Carn Aosda to the road but the clouds rolled in again so we decided to call it a day at around 2pm.
It was still well below freezing in the car park when we left for home. Had a good drive back and were home within 3 hours after what was a fine first day of the season for us.
Looking forward to some more good days on the Scottish hills this season.