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12 consecutive months sliding on CairnGorm since opening day last November.
No thawing today, but perhaps the weight of new snow was too much for this bit of the old snow bridge!
Ciste Mhearaidh snow patch falling into the shade fairly early in the afternoon now, aiding it's chance of surviving.
A dusting on the Summit of Beinn Mheadhoin, low down in the afternoon shadows a patch of old snow from winter 2014.
Not the only person up for an October slide.
Newly re-aligned Ptarmigan Traverse fence follows slightly raised ground to further increase effective fence height.
New Traverse fencing down towards the Top Station. New fence over 1.5x height of old fence, thus can catch twice as much snow.
While tourists dine in the Ptarmigan Restaurant, this unfortunate ptarmigan has become lunch.
CairnGorm with a hint of white beyond the Top Station.
No new fencing further down the Ciste and the M2 fencing is deteriorating markedly, where fences are utterly critical to maintaining the exposed run.
Snow capped autumnal view towards Braeriach.
Moodh shot looking over the Northern Corries of CairnGorm Mountain as wintry shower passes over the Western corries.
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Report
A cold front moved through overnight, bringing a plunge in temperature from the barmy upper teens late evening of just a few days ago. By 10am on Saturday the Summit AWS on CairnGorm Mountain was reporting an air temperature of -1.2°c, beefy snow showers put down a layer of fresh to below the Top Station, but with light winds it was a uniform dusting with next to no drifting occurring.
With the mountain beginning to clear up, indicating the forecast for a brighter afternoon would come true it was time to make a dash for some October turns. Half an inch to an inch of new snow was lying on the old snow in the Ciste Mhearaidh, noticeably more than the dusting that survived on the bare ground around.
With no drifting at all, even some of the grassy hollows in the Marquis Well that often provide the first turns on new season snow were a no go today. So with some short fresh tracks on a base of last years snow... A philosophical dilemma as whether these serve as the last turns of the old season or first turns of the new season?
