XC bike trails in Glencoe Mountain Resort Area

After hearing from Andy and a few others that the ‘weasel track’ (named after the ex military vehicle used to ferry skiers up back in the days before the chairlift) was rideable I decided to give it a go as well as exploring a few other trails in the area. As usual it was a pretty cold start, 10 degrees in the car park can be hovering on freezing point at the top of the chair, and a roadie like me, with nowt but lycra on can get a little chilly on the ride up! Once up there the first challenge was actually finding the track, on OS maps it comes off the top of the chair so I tried following the contours along but couldn’t see anything so decided to descend pretty much straight down.

Soon enough I was along side the DH track and as it would happen the start of the weasel… For those of you wanting to try the track follow the DH run until you get under the chair heading along the hillside to the riders right, on the corner where it gets steep there is a wide gap in the snow fence…that’s the weasel! (See photo)

So…the weasel is as promised a more gradual descent, for the most part it runs along the hillside with no real steep sections, drainage isn’t great, not really a surprise given it has hardly been used in 50 years! In parts it is wheel stoppingly boggy, nothing some rocks won’t sort in the future but for now if you are a bit cautious like me you will be hopping over those parts, or bunny hopping if the skill level is there. The track has some really fun rock slabs which are surprisingly grippy and some tight little singletrack which seems to be the rise in the middle of the vehicle tracks. I wouldn’t say it is fully rideable but its fun none the less.

Eventually the track joins onto what is marked as ‘Old Military road’ on OS maps, this for me is where the real fun started, the track is surprisingly dry and fast and I battered down to join the WHW down by Ba Cottage, really fun, even on a hardtail. The West Highland Way was fun too, fast and wide with some tough little climbs but mostly downhill, make yourself obvious when approaching walkers though, often they are in a bit of a daze from such a long trek and get a bit of a fright when you come speeding past them! The track joining the WHW to the bottom of the Glencoe Mountain Resort car park is also fun, now that the drainage ditches are sorted.

After a quick drink I headed over to the Kingshouse along the WHW, which for this stretch is tarmac for some reason, after sharing a powerbar with the friendly deer at Kingshouse I headed over the bridge and to the right along the track marked ‘Rannoch Public Path’ from here it is 19km to Rannoch on a well made dirt track as good as any of the forestry commission ones in the Trossachs, I would say this kind of thing would be Ideal for families and those who want a non technical ride, it has great views and is really peaceful as you ride along next to a gently meandering stream. The ride up to the mast about three KM along is quite fun too, first you ford the stream and then tackle a steep little gravel track.

Photos here - FLICKR

There seems to be plenty of existing trails to explore in the area so get on up here and check them out!

Cheers

DL

Exploring the Plateau by bike

Towards the end of last week I decided to take the access chairlift up to the plateau area of the resort to see what kind of existing trail network was around up there more suited to xc/singletrack type riding (the stuff that normal folks with a properly functioning sense of self preservation enjoy riding!). As expected the going wasn't easy, for a start, as I knew from previous exploits riding around St. Anton am Arlberg in the summer, pistes are a lot steeper than you realize without snow and a whole lot rockier!

Riding up to the cafe was pretty straightforward, the landrover track is gravel but quite fun to ride up, though keeping traction through the back wheel required a little concentration. It always interesting to be in an off season ski resort, lots of structures but no inhabitants.
The run off from the upper slopes was the only sound disturbing the silence, Mugs alley and the Haggis Trap both become streams in the springtime, carrying with them artifacts from the winter, lost lift passes, gloves and unfortunately a few bits of litter. After a few photos at the bottom of the Cliffhanger chair I thought I'd try and pedal up to the mid station, there is a fairly clear track running past the ski club hut towards the top of the poma lift, over a few makeshift metal bridges put there for the argocat which allow the lifties access to perform maintenance on the lifts. Past that the going gets tough, I tried going straight up Mugs alley but the combination of gradient, uneven terrain and boggy ground meant that the bike had to be shouldered for the short hike to the cat track. Possibly riding further on past the poma and back again might be more manageable.
Once up there it was back on the bike across the snow and to the top of the cliffy, surprisingly not all that hard a ride. I carried on to the ski patrol station and up to the top of the Wall T-bar.
I had hoped there would be an obvious track off the shoulder of the hill all the way back to the plateau but nothing was jumping out so I headed straight down!
I didn't last long before dismounting, the terrain was too steep for a chicken like me so I trudged down until it flattened out a bit. Hopping back on the bike i rode straight across the flat area past all the lifts and pistes and towards Creag Dubh, again as i climbed I found the terrain to uneven so walked to the cairns and admired the stunning views over the valley and the Buachaille. Riding back down to the Eagles Rest was much easier going than i expected, actually quite fun! After that I thought I'd try the DH track on my hardtail...it wasn't long before I was walking again!

In terms of gradients and terrain the potential for the Plateau area is huge, it won't take much to bed in a few decent track that intersect the bowl and also ones that form a circuit. The views up there make it a really special place to enjoy a bike ride, most UK trails are along valley floors and in forests which means you don't tend to see much other than the trail in front of you or an occasional view, up there you are spoiled with a panorama of the highlands.

Here is a link to some photos I took while I was up there...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sethboy/sets/72157624002706421/

I'm heading up again this week to check out valley trails and also alternate routes down from the top of the access chair, if anyone knows trails in the area feel free to leave a comment on any of our pages.

Cheers

DL

Welcome to the Glencoe mountain Resort Blog

Hello all, welcome to the boot room, facebook is great, twitter too but if you want more in-depth information about what is going on the blog will be updating regularly with news, events and musings from Glencoe Mountain Resort, cheers for checking us out!