Might be in area this weekend coming. Forestry website says bits of red closed til mid May for maintenance. Anybody know how much is rideable the now. Never been so don't know if worth a visit if red out of bounds (I'm no DHer BTW).

Cheers

Don't have first hand knowledge but apparently its near the bottom of the ladder (i.e. the Cairn William descent) that's a bit washed out on a couple of berms.

Guys I spoke to said that it wasn't as bad as the last time in which case you just have to be careful near the end as the heavy rain in November opened/cut a couple of drain channels which was all ridable on my Soul back then.

They also said they couldn't understand why it was 'officially' closed.

It's the SDA there this weekend so unless you're racing I wouldn't bother. As to conditions I don't know. Here in Moray it's very dry on the trails but apparently there was snow in Aberdeen this morning!

Aye, go on Bri … like Devs you have a DH bike.

Bugger, and its only 5 miles from my sisters too. Must look into other route options near Alford.

http://www.ecurieneep.co.uk/routes.asp

The Pitfichie red is in superb condition and the forestry claims of sections of trail washed away is nonsense. It looks and rides the same as always to me and at the moment it is bone dry and totally free of snow. As for the SDA it would be easy to avoid that part of Pitfichie and come in from another part.

Cool, must head back out there before the rain starts again…

Bruneep, cheers, plenty of routes from that link.

Also if you are thinking of going further afield then I can also tell you that the mountains are very clear and dry. The Loch Muick/Ballater area is in stunning condition right now with hardly any mud at all. Did "The Green Mile" 2 days ago and it was breathtaking.

Has anybody been to Glen Tanar and the Fungle lately?

was up carn fearg and the fungle on Saturday. not the best conditions, done it several times over the years but probably won't head back for a while. mostly dry but just a bit eroded now.