Scottish Skiing at its best.
Life takes different paths, we all know it, and it depends whether you try to fight it, or just go with the flow, as to what the outcome will be.
I have found myself in another life change, it usually happens every decade, as far as I can see. The sorting comes through the years in between & then when your approaching your next decade change, you find it all starts coming together. I have remained without children for my 37 years, and it has been fine, I have never had the great want for kids, not to say I don't enjoy them, I love playing & kids are the best at it, adults tend to become boring & lose all their fun. Maybe I haven't wanted for kids, as I am still a big one myself, anyway a digression is in process, so lets get back to it. I have a beautiful girlfriend, Nicola, who has 3 children, one who has now flown the nest, the other two are ages 5 & 8. The long & short of where I am going is that now I have a girlfriend with children, it means I must give up some of my time to them & their needs, can't be a selfish ass all my life. So Isaac, the 8 year old has gone away on a ski holiday with his Dad, and good for them, this left me & Nic with her 5 year old Millie. So we decided to take her upto Scotland, with the thought we might get a good amount of snow & be able to take her skiing (we were hoping!!). Its always a risk if you head to Scotland for a bit of piste skiing, you can be pretty much guarenteed to get ski-touring during the winter season in Scotland, but skiing on piste can be very hard work, icey, windy, not much snow cover.... but then sometimes you hit jackpot & you wonder why on earth anybody ever goes to Europe!! This was one of those times.
I learnt to ski in the Lakes & Aviemore from the age of 4, plastic skis, a bit of sliding around, and then the next year we headed to Italy & Sauze D'Oulx, so from the age of 5 I was very lucky to be on good pistes, with great snow. So this little holiday takes me back to when I learnt to ski. But of course, I remember the fun, but I can't remember how I was taught, what problems I came across, or how to deal with them, so to me it is all a new experience, as much as it was for Millie.Thr first day we had low cloud, but the snow cover was amazing, especially since there was no snow the week before, it had been stripped as Honza and I found out when we arrived at Ben Nevis. Luckly for the last couple of days it had been snowing like crazy, putting over 2 feet of fresh snow, maybe more. We opted for Glencoe to to high winds forecast, but found the conditions fine, bar the whiteout. Glencoe is not the friendliest places to ski with a 5 year old who has never been on ski's before, but we set off up the chair lift & then I made an effort of getting Millie up the Poma to the green runs above. this was no mean feat, as I had to carry her, not trusting she could stand up on ski's having never worn them before. We made it to the top & set off down the green to the rope tow, Millie between my legs, snow ploughing all the way (me not Millie that is). This again, didn't prove as easy as I thought it would be. The skiing was simple enough, but controlling Millie's extra weight whilst snow ploughing down the runs was pretty tough. My legs were on fire when we reached the little rope trainig tow. It was of course not running, but no matter, it wasn't a big slope to walk back up. And so I preceded to snow plough with Millie between my legs, trying to get her to stand upright.
It all worked pretty well, but she spent alot of the time relying on me to keep her standing, not taking much of the weight herself. I then moved to skiing backwards infront of her, supporting her from the front, but she still relied heavily on me. Did I experience this lack of balance when I was her age? Did I have the same fears she looked like she was experiencing? I can't remember, I was only 4 at the time.To finish the day, I thought it would be ok to ski down the final run to the carpark, with Millie again between my legs. It looked reasonable from the lift on the way up. Whoops, bit of a mistake. It was ok initially, but then the slope steepened & then narrowed, as they tend to in Scotland. Nicola, who has skied enough time before to be comfortable on red runs in the Alps, was now being tested after not having skis on for 3 years, whilst getting to grips with sloppy hire boots & not so great hire skis. I was having to pick Millie up & ski with her in front of me, but al was well & with a little walking past the rock exposed gun barrel, we made our way safely to the bottom. A good first day's skiing and Nicola & I had managed to get a couple of runs in separately ourselves. With beautiful views across Rannoch Moor, we set off to spend another night in the Van down in the woodland behing Glencoe Village.
The next day we woke & thought we would check out the Nevis Range. The snow cover was full, all runs open & the weather was a little claggy, but clearing. We hired kit again, set off up the bubble and arrived at the slopes. The rope traning tow was working here & so with ski's on we set to teaching Millie again. Nicola went off to get a run in, whilst I tried to get Millie to support herself & start to learn a snow plough, and we did pretty well, but she couldn't get the snow plough quite sorted & still wanted to lean on me a litle too much. With Nic back, we went for a break & then I got a couple of runs down the Warren in excellent snow conditions. There had been a Polish guy in the hire place, who had understood I wanted a nice stable fast ski and had given me a set of Rossignol something or other... it was a good choice & I had 2 great runs. When I got back, it was almost time for heading down, we had had quite a late start, but then its ok when you have a 5 year old with you. Lazy days!! Back at the van & we headed this time up Glen Nevis, after deciding to stay an extra day, due to being told it would be a blue sky day on Wednesday.
Waking in Glen Nevis, at the top carpark, was a beautiful experience. The sun was shining on the mountain tops, that were plastered in snow and we were surrounded by them. What more can you ask for. We went for a morning stroll up towards Steele Falls, but with limited time, due to a lasy breakfast, we turned back before we got there. We wanted to get Millie a ski lesson with someone else, thinking it would benifit her confidence & she may learn more quickly. It would also have given Nicola and I the chance to get 1 hour skiing together. It ws not to be. Millie is quite shy with people she doesn't know & would be left with the instructor, a lovely guy called Tristan. But this was not a bad thing, ok Nic & I could get some time to ourselves, but then we were there for Millie & her benefit and for me this is the life changing stuff. Having to think about others again... it comes to us all. We figured it would be good for Tristan to show me at the same time, how to carry on the tuition after had finished.
Quite quickly he had Millie up the Poma & I learnt how you take kids up a Poma, and then coming down the slope as Nic and I watched at the bottom. After a while I skied down with them & then took over what he was doing, with him directing. At the end of the lesson, we used a great device, which allowed Millie to support herself, whilst I was there to control her speed if needs be. It was basically a couple of slalom poles with a shorter fiberglass pole in between, held together with a rope strung though them to make a frame. It worked a treat & Millie snow ploughed and steared her way down the slope with very little help from me. A major success!!
For the rest of the afternoon, which was only a hour or so, we played in the wooden climbing/play/swing area whiclst Nic & I took turns to get a couple of runs in. Millie enjoyed the swing looking down at Loch Lihne and the surrounding mountains & snow cover. What a beautiful finish to 3 great days in Scotland & Millie's first experience of skiing. We could have asked for more. We headed down to the van and got our heads ready for the long drive home. We set off from Fort William & stopped on the back road to the Kings House on Rannoch Moor to have dinner in the van, before making the rest of the journey, the beauty of a camper van.
Driving away I couldn't help but think that I had been in Scotalnd, with the most amazing snow conditions & I had not got to do anything I really wanted to do. I could have run, climbed or skied all over the mountains, the Ben was plastered, there was snow cover & I had my Kahtoola KTS's and Camp Corsa axe with me, but the oppertunity just hadn't arisen, but I felt warm inside, that I had been able to give Millie the same experiences I had grown up with & I knew inside, that Scotland is always there. Ok, it was good snow cover, the best they had had all season, but I new it will come again & I will get my time again. And best of all, although tired, I wasn't as exhausted as usual.
