It was a nip in, ski, nip out trip to Scotland. While the ski fields are not the first choice for seasoned snow bunnies, I made the most of the two days visiting friends working at Cairngorm ski resort, (pronounced "Carin-gorm").
My Inverness flights were cheap, in fact they cost as much as the train transfers. My final destination was a small town called Aviemore, 45 mins south of Inverness.
Arriving in the city of Inverness after 5pm was a drag. It was cold, rainy and I had time to kill before my train to Aviemore. I saw two fights on the street. I'm sure there's more to Inverness aside from the river.
In Aviemore I warmed up to my friend's fireplace and that's what I fell asleep to as I was on the couch anyway. Nothing replaces the blissful ambience and crackle of a wood burning fire. I could watch the flames burn all night.
I heard winds howling the next morning and decided not to have an early start in the ski field. Plus the sun didn't rise until 8.30am.
We took a bus to Cairngorm ski resort, half an hour away from the town. It was a winter wonderland as we passed a frozen lake, Siberian huskies (training for a sledding competition) and a quaint little snow town.
The weather was cloudy and on the mountain, winds were up to 56km an hour. They picked up the snow and caused delays with the funicular to the top station. The train leaves every 15 minutes and normally takes 5 mins to get to the top. However twice we were held up due to the tunnel being backed up with snow.
There were a few closed runs because of low snow coverage. The winds were so strong, we had to push ourselves downhill or we got propelled like sailboats. The red runs White Lady and M1 were my favorites as they are wide open and powdery.
It's worth mentioning that food on the mountain is fairly priced. I had a burger with chips (GBP 8) and best of all, the cheese came grilled and melted over the patty! So crusty and delicious.
After lunch it got darker and the wind picked up speed. Visibility on one side of the mountain was terrible and it was painful taking a t-bar with snow whipping on my face. Thankfully we got a few good runs down the other side before calling it a day.
There was good snow at Cairngorm but as conditions change quickly, a tip is to make plans last minute. As it was relatively low altitude compared to say, the Alps, Cairngorm is heavily dependant on favourable weather. Is it comparable to Austrian and French ski fields? Definitely not. There are only T bars and pommel lifts to get you around the mountains. It's a small ski field. It's possible to ski all the runs in one day if you were an expert skier.
We missed our bus to Aviemore so my friend, familiar with hitching culture within the ski field, asked a stranger in the car park for a lift. I was dumbfounded as I've never "hitched hiked" but my friend assured me that it was a very normal thing to do and people are really friendly here.
Our driver was a Romanian snowboard instructor who kindly dropped us off in Aviemore. We then went to a recreation club to relax in a heated pool, spa and steam room.
We retired at home with a ready made pizza and roasted marshmallows over the fireplace. I think I might have turned into a pyromaniac as I kept the fire roaring all night.
The next morning it was raining. I was told lot of the snow had melted in Cairngorm so the lift staff were told to go home. My friends and I went for a walk through the town and hiked to see a couple of lochs. The countryside was beautiful albeit soggy and freezing.
It was time to fly back to London. I was in Highlands for less than 48 hours but that's ok. I maxed out what could be done in the poor weather. I hope to come back for a full weekend trip!
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