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Hi
I took the opportunity while the snow was fresh to ascend Cairngorm Mountain to the ski resort and may be the first fatbike on those slopes. Starting from Bothy Bikes in town I made my way up through the lower forest then road to the resort. There I ascended to mid station. It was harder work than I expected even on quite firm snow. I originally wanted to ride to the top then descend. After playing around on the lower slopes (not amongst the snowboarders and skiers!) I want off piste around to Coire an Sneachda for deep snow and see how it rode. Faired a lot better on the fat bike than I would on my other bike but came a cropper a few times. Quite comical. Once up a steep slope and then point down the bike would happily ride 30cm+ of snow until it levelled out then queue fall over. The standover height was a bit of a problem. After which I retraced my steps back Bothy Bikes. Awesome fun and a day I will want to replicate in future.
Nice video. You must have covered twice the distance, rushing back and forth to get those shots!
Do the tyres shed snow well? Is there any kind of snow that sticks and clogs them up?
Nice video but not even the first this month.:-)may be the first fatbike on those slopes.
Here's one I did earlier this year (lazy edit, no music)
may be the first fatbike on those slopes.
Not even the first this month.
Should've gone tomorrow eh? 😉
Good stuff though OP 🙂
And some young daredevil
Do the tyres shed snow well? Is there any kind of snow that sticks and clogs them up?
Shred the snow very well for that day. I highly expect wet slushy ice will clog up stuff especially like the gears. There is not much room on that bike between the guards and tyre. The rims being 70mm wide collect more snow.
Brilliant and inspiring stuff folks, thanks for sharing.
The Youtube video submitted by scotroutes is what I had in mind when thinking about creating my video but as you have seen dreaming is different from reality!? Shoot the director!
Riding on the slopes amongst the skiers was very very tempting but reasoned against it. I did ask Cairngorm Mtn Resorts via twitter about bikes on the slopes but never got a reply so I guess it was ok to ride on their slopes.
Like to know how the guy in the video with the fat bike got to the top. It is seriously a hard slog riding there to the mid station. Steeper than I imagined it too thinking going up the equivalent of a green/blue would be ok.
[quote=ChannelD ]Riding on the slopes amongst the skiers was very very tempting but reasoned against it. I did ask Cairngorm Mtn Resorts via twitter about bikes on the slopes but never got a reply so I guess it was ok to ride on their slopes.It stands to reason they're less than enthusiastic about mountain bikes on the pisted slopes. Typically, there will be learner groups over those lower sections and the last thing they need is 35lbs of pointy-out metal hurtling down the hill towards them.
My stance is quite clear - the ski area covers a very small (tiny actually) part of the Cairngorms. As cyclists we have access to all of it. It's simply selfish to put yourself in amongst them when there's so much more available.
Push/carry is the way to get onto the plateau. Rather than going up the ski area you'd have been better going up the ridge on either side, or heading across the front of the corries and up the east side of Lurchers Gully. You can make a good circuit of it that way.Like to know how the guy in the video with the fat bike got to the top. It is seriously a hard slog riding there to the mid station. Steeper than I imagined it too thinking going up the equivalent of a green/blue would be ok.
Of course, it's a bit easier in summer.
[url= https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3891/14835057791_93bc9114b2_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3891/14835057791_93bc9114b2_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/oAVxQt ]Cairngorm[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/druidh2000/ ]Colin Cadden[/url], on Flickr