CairnGorm Mountain // Wednesday 31st December 2008
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Ice slides! Be careful outside the Top Station.
Beginner classes have taken over the Sledge Park for now.
Looking back up the narrow Ciste Fairway.
Ptarmigan Tow rises above the end of the visible world!
Sun Setting on CairnGorm Mountain on Hogmanay.
Coire Cas side is closed due to the icy conditions, esp the Gunbarrel.
Dusk falls on CairnGorm as the last day of 2008 draws to a close.
Inversion layer for about as far as you can see from just below the foot of the Ciste T-bar.
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CairnGorm Mountain saw 2008 end as it had begun with limited sport on offer in the Top Basin, though this year there is more of a base elsewhere on the mountain.
In fact there is a complete route from the Top to the Middle, but it presently needs an axe and crampons to negotiate parts of it. The Top basin is hard packed but not as icy as the Cas area has become, but sharp edges will still make a big difference.
The riding is currently limited to the Ciste Fairway which is about 2 and bit machine widths and the Ptarmigan Bowl which is narrow and patchy. The direct route was posted closed the past couple of days to give ski school standing classes an area to use in the bowl without risk from above! Except for those under instruction where the ski school can seek out the better pockets of snow, the Top is really only suitable for more experienced riders at present.
A sprinkling of new snow is possible on New Year's Day from a decaying front pushing into NE Scotland. If anything does fall it will help take the edge of the hard base and it wouldn't take much to really freshen things up and possible allow the Cas to re-open.
Finally, these are the last pix for 2008, a year that brought some epic spring riding on the 'Gorm.