[Closed] Fort William / Laggan conditions

i think fort bill is closed for the winter. laggan drains pretty well but it will have taken a battering with all this rain. good luck.

it's only the DH trails that shut for winter. was out in the central highlands yesterday - hills are very wet, but i've seen worse. trail centres will be fine (unless the wind has brought some trees down).

I did one of the Witches Trails XC routes last winter when there was snow all over the shop.

Deluge is normal for FW.

Was probably going to do the witches if I go to Fort William unless it's too churned up. Can easily come home via Laggan otherwise since I reckon that might drain better. I knew the DH stuff would be shut. Reckon I'll try the new XC next year when the lift opens again.

Have you done the Witches Trails before? Not all that imo - some good bits but some dull ones too and lots of fire road.

Not ridden either grumm. Better to go to Laggan? Was veering towards Fort William as I'm coming back from Skye, and I'm up that way less often, whereas Laggan is a bit closer.

Laggan has some diversions on for forest work.

The Laggan diversion is non issue and only effects the initial climb from the carpark to the bottom of the upper red/black . . . and the diversion is more interesting . . . diversion also not in place at the weekends per the signage . . . I was there Monday afternoon and it was very wet, the lower red was like biking down a river . . . I expect it'll be more of the same or wetter if the weather today was anything to go by . . . still . . . no big issue . . .

Fd

Laggan almost exactly a year ago... bit different weather then!
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/gingerfox/sets/72157610474210119/

Nice, snow on the peaks on Monday, temp is dropping so the snowline will be coming down the hills shortly 😉

Fd

Speaking to someone today who had driven down from Inverness this AM and there was snow at Drumochter . . . certainly turned a lot colder today . . .

Like Grumm said, the Witches Trails aren't all that. The good bits are very good I think but there's soooo much fire road. Even fire road descending, which is a bookable offence. And the signposting is absolutely awful.

Still, there's bits on the descents that I'm really burning to ride again, they have a brilliant, carved out of the woods feeling which is pretty different to most trail centres. It's not massively difficult for most of it but it doesn't feel like it's coddling you as reds can. And I think you might be able to cut out most of the tedium if you loop just the western end, cut up from Witch's Brew or Nessie to Great Glen Helter Skelter without going back to the main car park (if I was going to try this I'd start from the North Face car park)

Personally I'd save it til the lifts are open- you can build a nice day doing the nevis red then once the bikes get kicked off, chain up bits of 10 under the ben and the witch's.

Fort Bill is excellent if you take a look around and go off piste a little.

Thanks for the comments. I agree that fort bill next year when the downhill xc red is open would make a good day. Snow at Drumtocher? There is always snow at drumochter from November til May!

Goan, I was wondering that, there's a million little trailheads and tempting diversions isn't there...

Yip. Lots of them. All good too. You could spends days in there and not ride the same bit twice.

Course, the midges will leave nothing but a bleached skeleton

Thanks for the comments. Rode the lower red today. Not been out for a couple of months, so didn't fancy the black, but the lower red was a good taster. Reckon I'll need to zip up the A9 again soon. Not as much snow as the above shot, but a few flakes in the air!

Rode Laggan yesterday, black/red x 2 , then the red to the bottom. A bit damp but no issues on trail. Boardwalk was a bit slidy.