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The 3 turn patch(let)!
Lower of the 4 patches.
August ski ticked off - cutting it fine at 5pm on the 31st!
Limit of the main CM patch.
First August turns for me, but not the first nor the last skier on the Ciste Mhearaidh on the last day of August!
Main CM patch on arrival.
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The calendar said it was cutting it fine, but the weather was glorious for bagging my August turns on CairnGorm Mountain on Sunday afternoon. The Sun was out and there was enough of a breeze to keep things cool on the walk up without impeding progress and once at the snow patches in the Ciste Mhearaidh there was not a breath of wind and it was wall to wall unbroken Sunshine.
Glad to report no midges were encountered either, and stretched out in the Sun on the flat grassy area below the snow patches it felt positively warm in the Sun. Despite that the snow surface was excellent fast granular spring snow and below the surface the snow pack was pretty firm - it was a struggle to get the skis in enough to stand up!
I gather I wasn't the first skier up there on Sunday and on the way down I met another heading up! This Scottish Summer Sliding seems to be catching on... Certainly the most snow I've seen personally there at the end of August, so will be up soon to bag the September turns. Shame it wasn't like this last September when I came unstuck after 46 consecutive months of sliding on CairnGorm.