Backcountry is making a big noise in Scotland, and Fall-Line is up at the home of Scottish mountaineering, Glenmore Lodge, complete with achey thighs, halfway through a poke around the Cairngorm. We're mainly here because Rob at Mountain Spirit, based a few miles down the hill in Aviemore, has called together an interested group of retailers looking to put some of the new product to the test. Backcountry? New gear? On-snow testing just a trainride away? Now you know why we're here.

Today was a quick intro to the hill for me, because the last time I came was a while ago when things like the chiarlift was running, the funicular railway didn't exist, and I couldn't ski. Some things do remain constant.

Happily, 12 degrees down in Aviemore translate to enough chill on the hill to retain a deep snowpack and the conditions are great - sweet spring snow flatters and I'm enjoying a pair of G3 Mass Transit skis on Fritschi Eagle bindings. The G3s are pretty light, trad construction and with a long nose and an 86mm waist. I'd normally ski something like this a bit longer than 178cm, but these work very well in the soft snow. At the top on harder snow it's the highish bindings and semi-touring boots that mean I need to pressure the noses into the snow to get the edges biting, but they will hook up. Pretty effortless overall.

A baked spud and bucket of pop at the Ptarmigan cafe gives enough energy for the final few runs. We're easily cutting over the snow fences to make Cairngorm's sometimes narrow pistes into wide sweeps of snow. The sun, bright yesterday, is mostly hidden but the cloud lifts enough to get a good scope of what's around. I've had a pack full of gear ready today, but we keep the skins stowed. It's going to be fine tomorrow...

See the next installment here