(Very) Early Season Ski-ing

Well, I really wasn't expecting to get my cross country skis out already. A day of heavy snow showers with the snow sticking even in Inverness meant that I just had to chance it up at Abriachen. Although the forest tracks are only about 250m-300m in altitude the place seems to be a real snow trap. It is only 15min from the middle of Inverness and has been a favourite place of mine for ski-ing, running and biking for a while now. It seems to be more often ski-able compared to other places like Farr or Daviot Woods.



So yesterday morning (Wednesday) I got up early and skied for over an hour on perfect snow (well for Scotland that is) and I felt very satisfied, although pretty sore, sitting back at my desk watching the snow melt.

Cairngorm conditions

High winds were forecast all weekend and with the avalanche hazard high due to the large dumps of snow I decided to give climbing a miss and instead had a brillant day cross country ski-ing around Badguish (10.5km in a very leisurely 3hs). The cover was a bit thin under the trees, but it was a fantastic day under blue skies, pleasant temperatures and decent snow. Higher up in the corries the winds were high,but some friends reported less snow than expected (and managed to get a good route done).



Today, despite the forecast, I headed up with Rob to see about getting a route done in the corries. At the car park it was wet and very windy so we couldn't even be motivated to leave the car so we headed back to Inverness via the cafe in Aviemore. Much of the snow has melted and with fairly warm temperatures forecast the burns will be up in no time.

Abriachen Ski-ing Conditions

The woods at Abriachen (http://www.abriachan.org.uk/) has a network of built trails ideal for biking and running. The Great Glen Way also runs through it before heading to Blackfold and ultmately Inverness. Happily, when the snow line drops to about 350m the area seems to hold the snow well and is good for cross-country ski-ing. Larger dumps are needed for the mountain bike trails to be ski-able, but relatively small amounts of the white stuff bring the entensive forestry tracks and GGW into condition. The only problem is the lack of circular routes when conditions are thin, but that is a small draw-back for mid-week ski-ing. I rate this venue higher than Daviot and Slochd, but you never see anyone ski-ing here. Where else can you ski see-saws or boardworks?

On Thursday I headed out in the morning and evening (with Dave) and got a couple of hours on the skis. The tracks down from the cairn were really too steep for me to ski down, but I only walked for a couple of minutes. In the evening the moon was so bright and the sky so clear that I didn't even need a headtorch. Far off in the distance the lights from the Glen Doe Hydro project lit up the clouds like some bizarre Mount Doom. The views are wide across the Monaidhliath plateau and the Morar mountains to the north. The cold made the snow quite icy but it was still inspiring to be ski-ing only 15min from Inverness.

So the next time the snow gets low and the hills down the Great Glen are white just take a risk and head up and you may be lucky.

Cross training - my thoughts

I am a big believer in cross training i.e. doing other things than your main sport. I know most runners just run and probably being specfic to one sport will give the best chance of performing well, but I just can't do it. If I ran 5 or 6 times a week I would just blow up or get injured within the month. But, perhaps it is my inability to concentrate on one task at a time that is the problem. Still, looking back at past seasons some of my best results have been achieved off 30km total running miles a week. I am in no way claiming to be good, but I have won the odd race, completed the Bob Graham with limited fuss and completed the OMM Elite so I would like to think I am a fairly competent fell runner. So, my weekly training at the moment is a hard short run (1h), a track session and one long run (2-4h) at the weekend. To that I add 2 long (1-2h) steady bike rides, some yoga sessions and a swim session. The amount of running seems quite low compared to a lot of other fell runners out there and I will just have to see in May whether my approach works for ultra races.

The main advantage of my approach is that it leaves a day on the weekend free just to have fun and not feel guilty about 'missing' a training session. After my cold and wet run near Inverness (just past Balnain) on Saturday around Eskdale Moor (the one up here not the lakes) which was 10M long took 2h over a mix of estate roads and rough moorland (bagging the peak Carn nam Bad on the way), I went east with Emily on Sunday. The forecast was great, but the main worry was the distinct lack of snow near Inverness. We put the hiking boots in with the xc-skiing stuff and it was only until just past Dufftown that there was snow on the ground. When we finally reached Clach forest however, (do a search for Huntly skiing on Google) there was snow everywhere and we had 3h of superb skiing. My technique leaves a lot to be desired and was a bit of a all-over muscle workout. I know I have just held forth on me not being a slave to a training programme, but I still felt the need for exercise so I went up Tap O'Noth, Scotland's second highest hill fort, which wasn't very far but steep. The 'short-cut' on the way down ended, as it so often does, with an ingloriuos battle through gorse. I had to stifle my frustrated yelps of pain as walkers wandered by a couple of meters away on the perfectly good path. A fantastic end to a great two weeks.