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Published: March 9th 2006
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Me Ruth and Tom
This is at the first hill we attempted to ski- glencoe Hello everyone
Its really hard to beleive that I have been over here for almost 2 months now- WOW. Over the past 2 weeks I have been up north in the highlands on 2 seperate occasions.
1. Skiing: I'm sure many of you probably had no idea that there was even enough snow up here to ski- well dont worry becuase I didnt know that until 2 weeks ago either. I met a Scottish girl (Ruth) in one of my classes and she kept talking about skiing in the highlands. When she found out that I knew how to ski she invited me to go with her and her boyfriend for the day. So I invited a friend to come with us and we took the 1.5 hour drive upto a place called Glencoe. The drive up there was beautiful- we saw lots of Lochs (what we would call a Lake) and beautiful mountain ranges. After arriving at the hill only 10 minutes after opening and finding out there were no ski's left to rent we were a bit surprised. We all got back in the car and kept driving north in hopes of finding more snow the further we went.
Glencoe
and here is the first hill... yes this is what it looked like!! We decided to stop in a wee town called Fort William and ask the information center if they had any other suggestions. The next hill was supposed to have better conditions and more skis to rent to we decided to try it out. After arriving at --- I couldnt beleive my eyes- it looked like we were about to ski down a hill that was half full of snow and half completley bare??? But after finding out that a gondola took us up (and down) the bare part of the mountain I was a bit more optimistic about this adventure. Only after paying the $50 for ski rentals and a half day lift pass did the lady in the ticket center warned us that there was lots of ice on the hill and to be VERY careful.... oh great! After the slowest gondola ride in history was complete we then had to WALK about 20 minutes with our skis to get to the chair lift becuase there wasnt enough snow to ski to it. We then took the slowest chairlift in history up the hill which had to be followed by not 1 but 2 trips up with a t-bar!!!
What a nice view
This was from the car window and let me tell you- I have NEVER experienced such cold wind chill factors in my life- I seriously thought that I was going to die while holding on for dear life to the t- bar... Going down the first part of the (small) mountain was great but then we hit the area where it was PURE ice conditions, and those of you who have seen me ski will know that my skills are'nt too advanced even with good conditions. I fell probably 10 times in about 30 minutes and was getting really fed up with having to avoid all the massive pot holes and boulders sticking out from the snow. So as you can probably guess by now that was my only run for the day. Ruth and I headed back down to the chalet while the boys took a few more attempts at the hill. Overall though it was a great day out there- I got to meet 2 new people and experience this country in a different way.
This experience made me realize just how lucky we are to live next to the rockies- I will never complain about them again in my whole life!!
2.
Nevis Range
This is the hill we actually skied on... Carbisdale Castle: Trip #2 to the highlands definitly more enjoyable for me. My university planned a trip for 150 international students to a hostel in the most northern part of scotland. It is a castle that has been transformed into a youth hostel in the last little while. Leaving last friday afternoon and returning on Sunday night was just enough time to see what this area had to offer. The drive up there was pretty long (5 hours) but we stopped in a few places for a food and toilet break. When we were about 10 minutes from the castle the roads started to get REALLY skinny and one of the buses actually got stuck in the snow- of course I was in the bus behind this one and ended up having to walk with all our stuff the rest of the way. We were provided with 3 meals a day in their cafeteria and the meals were better then I thought they would be considering they had to cook for 150 ppl. That night each country had to get up in front of the group and sing a song that best represented where they were from. Us Canadians belted
out "Its the good ole' hockey game"! After a 'few' drinks we headed to bed and were up bright and early for breakfast the next morning.
This day was supposed to include a trip to a nearby castle but with all the snow the bus was still unable to move. We took a few hikes through the knee deep snow and had numerous snow balls fights to keep ourselves entertained. That night after dinner a family came in to teach us highland/scottish dancing. It was tons of fun watching and learning all the different dances. I even gave a small linedancing lesson to a few select people who wanted to see what it was like 😊
The next day was another early one as we had to eat and get on the bus by 10am. On the way home we got to stop at a few touristy places and take some pics. That brings me to the end of this adventure so I hope you all enjoyed hearing about it! I think the pictures will better describe everything!
Andrea
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Sarah
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howdy !
the castle is so beautiful! i cant believe it!!! keep on adventuring amiga... i love you