Scotland has not been renowned for it’s snow conditions in recent years, however every now and again it offers up a little gem.
Friday 23rd November was one of those occasion’s.  Maggie Cleeve and a few others were on hand to make the best of the opportunity Cairn Gorm had on offer.
After the usual late night phone calls on Thursday, Mark and I arranged to meet up with Caroline and Suzie at the ski centre car park on Friday morning.

We set off from Aberdeen at  8am after sorting the kit out over an early breakfast. A two and a half hour drive saw us meeting up with the others at around 10:30, excited to find a good covering of snow right down to the car park.  Suzie had brought her friend Kev, a keen snowboarder, to show him snow kiting was all about. The five of us felt a bit like pack horses, carrying kites, boards and other essentials for a day on the mountain in Scottish winter.  We headed up the ridge, and after about an hour and half walking we came to an area with plenty of space for us to kite, far enough away from any lifts and other potential hazards and with more snow than rock.  With the wind only blowing around 10mph I got set up with my 10m Frenzy 07 while Mark quickly rigged up his 8m Manta II.  As we started cruising across the hillside Caroline headed up the hill a bit with the video camera and Suzie began to rig up her 8m Access 2.  We were amazed at how good the snow was for Scotland, loads of powder, and with the sun on it the icy parts were softening up nicely.
It wasn’t long before Mark was jumping, taking off and flying downhill to get extended float.  For me the Frenzy 07 was turning too slow in the light wind, so Mark handed  me the Manta II while he got the camera out to take some pics.
By this time Suzie was up and going, getting in some short runs and enjoying using her kite for the first time in the snow, while Caroline was making the most of the conditions to get some snowboard practice in.
3 o’clock was the cut off time, with only an hour to get down before the sun set and the café closed.  The wind had fizzled out completely by then so we made our way down, arriving at the car park just in time to get hot chocolate and cookies at the café before they closed.

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