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Product placement opportunities... *cough* *hint*
Looking down into the M1 queuing area from the end of the 105.
Yes, that's the Daylodge Bridge. Riding to Daylodge on fresh on 11th May!
Hitting the dancefloor box in the Ptarmigan Terrain Park on the Ciste Fairway.
Lower Zig Zags are passable again, though the bottom two are thin. Dropping into Gunbarrel from 2nd leg also an option.
Lot of new snow drifting on varied winds means widespread avalanche risk on steeper stuff. Play safe.
Can ride up to the gate at the Funicular Mid-Station.
Snow belting down in the Cas Carpark on Friday morning.
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Report
The sun is shining in Aviemore just now, but still the snow is belting down on CairnGorm Mountain as this report is uploaded. It's snowed continuously now for over 24 hours and while the snow was a bit slower to really get going yesterday than forecast, it's been even slower to clear away and over a foot of fresh snow has fallen on the upper mountain since yesterday morning.
The snow was dry and quite powdery at the top with the Top Basin in absolutely amazing condition. The very poor visibility on Friday in the snow meant very little exploring was done so there will be loads of fresh lines on the Ptarmigan Ridge on Saturday - which promises good sunny spells and still a few more snow showers.
Above 2700ft he mountain had extensive cover mid-week, basically continuous above 3000ft and this has improved further. It is now possible to ski back to the Mid Station platform on the Funicular via the Zig Zags and White Lady. Top two Zig Zags then lower Gunbarrel is the best route, but the lower ZZ's are passable. Similarly the 105 into the M1 queuing area is skiable. Snow was notably heavier on the lower third of the mid mountain and below, but this is no bad thing as it will back down and firm up for Saturday despite the lack of base below 2600ft, so no more walking to the middle lifts for Saturday!
It is expected that repair work to the M1 Poma will be completed tonight and that it will join the Ciste, Ptarmigan T-bars and Polar Express up top, plus Funicular which will mid-stop. Coire Cas will run if demand. If the M1 runs it will have surpassed it's final operating day in 2010 - who'd have thought that back in March?
Tomorrow is the 12th of May there are fresh tracks to be had and with care it was possible to ridge to the Daylodge on Friday afternoon, 1650ft of lift served vertical!