The last of the snow clouds cleared to leave a perfect but fading blue sky above CairnGorm Mountain at dusk. Flat calm, still and frosty, and the forecasts promise Saturday will dawn just as Friday ended.

A couple of photos for now, a full report and more photos in Pix from the Slopes later.

Looking up Coire Na Ciste and over under the Chair to the Aonach Bowl and Aonach Ridge beyond. Skiable to the Ciste Carpark.

The webcams in the SSC hut are updating at five minute intervals to try and improve reliability while it’s relying on very limited bandwidth. They have been set to start updates before 7am, so you can see how it’s shaping up from as soon as there is enough light.

Unexpected heavy snow showers on Thursday afternoon saw the Glenmore Gates get closed for the remainder of the afternoon as the road became increasingly icy, rather than from amount of snow. The showers did however put down another 2 or 3 inches higher up.

It had been hoped to visit the Webcam Installation in the Ski Club Hut to check up on it and try to clear the windows. There is an ongoing data communication issue since the storm, due to a data service problem with the local mast after Wednesdays Storm.

Taking a short walk along the shore  of Loch Morlich around dusk alone apart from a few ducks, the mist suddenly cleared revealing a pinkish sunset amongst the snow clouds, and brief glimpse of Coire Cas (See Pix from the Slopes).

Friday promises more settled weather ahead of a great Saturday, but stormy Sunday. An attempt to de-ice the window of the SSC hut will be made, but if it’s not possible a few sunny spells should help as it’s facing South.

At the moment the mist started to clear in Coire Cas, I was very impressed with the width of cover on the Cas… only as the mist cleared slightly further I realised it wasn’t the Coire Cas Tow, but the Carpark Tow I had been looking at. The lower mountain is absolutely loaded.