Further snow and drifting over recent days and a promising forecast for Thursday morning meant it was time to get the skins out and hit the 'Gorm for an autumn tour, well tour of the Snowsports Area mostly.

Unlike the hoof to bag the October turns in the 1st week of the month, underfoot conditions were crisper, the air still cold by the top of the Zig Zags. It was possible to get skis on at the top of the Zig Zags and skin up the tow track, 105, Traverse (round front side of the Ptarmigan) and on up the Marquis Well without taking skis off.

A firm base with loose dry snow on top gave some pretty sweet early autumn turns in the Marquis Well snow fields, then on down the Ptarmigan Traverse for a spot of lunch. On entering the Ptarmigan the WWP was encased in ice, the snow dry and cold. In the time it took to have a bowl of soup, the approaching warm front made it's presence felt. The wind was getting up too which combined with the rise in temperature to strip the WWP of it's white coat. The snow was starting to soften on exiting the Ptarmigan.

The Ciste Fairway was complete with fairly considerable drifts, certainly the Tow has run with a good bit less snow! If the weather had given us 3 or 4 days of cool settled conditions into the weekend, we would have had the first lift served action! Alas, it's mild, it's wild and it's wet for the next few days, reminding us it's still very much mid Autumn.

From the Fairway it was possible, with a degree of combat skiing towards the end on increasingly slow and sticky snow to ride the full length of the M2 to the top of the DLP.