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It wasn't as light as the camera suggests on the last time down Rankin's Return - great loop off Cliffhanger Chair and Poma.
A cracking but busy for December day draws to a close as the light fades - but you can still get your dinner in the Cafe!
The Main Basin T-bar made it's season debut late Saturday afternoon after much machine work, but it may not last the night with rain forecast.
It's very rare for Glencoe to be open pre Christmas, for a busy day mid December is fairly exceptional.
Plateau Poma Runs have good cover of machine / skier packed snow which will be softening on Sunday morning.
The Wall was seeing a good deal of action using the Cliffhanger for access.
Old Mugs Alley in good shape, plus the Access Return gives another lengthy mellow green back to foot of the Poma.
Good depth at the top of the Access Chair. Plenty of sight seers and sledgers up.
Looking up the Cafe fork of Old Mugs Alley and beyond the Cliffhanger and Canyon.
New fencing and new bridge on Mugs Alley which is now open.
Busy sledge park as the light begins to fade at the Plateau Cafe.
Top half of the Red Access Run in great shape and bumps developing. Thin and tricky at carnage corner, the road is better.
Traversing from the fences along the Red Downhill Bike Track is now a well used route to the new track.
A rare busy mid December day at the 'Coe.
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A pre Christmas opening at Glencoe is historically a rare thing, we're not aware of a previous November opening as was the case this year, so having a busy day with almost 800 skiers and boarders up in mid December with riding to the Carpark at 1200ft is a pretty special day.
That's 3 great days of riding to the base of the Access Chair, a few lucky souls who were paying attention got in the full 2400ft of lift served vertical off the Main Basin T-bar as dusk came in. Alas given the weather breakdown overnight it might have been a very short stint the top T-bar.
Mid mountain the Wall is in good shape and was seeing a fair bit of traffic, Mugs Alley is narrow but easily passable and gives a variety of routes onto Rankin's Return for a fun and varied loop back to the Poma (and for access to the Blue Access Run and Weasel Gully).
The Plateau runs all have a good width of cover, it is now a mix of skier packed and machine groomed snow which will be softening on Sunday after a rise in temps in the early hours. Summit temps will fall back around lunchtime, so surface conditions will vary through the day.
Some snow loss is expected at most if not all levels overnight, so the exact situation on the hill will need to be assessed AM. The bottom of the low level Red Access Run and the new track are scrapped, worn with a few icy patches, but were still passable at dusk.