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Looking West from the Top Station on Thursday afternoon. Bit thin and scratchy in patches around the top of the M1 Poma, be cautious here.
Looking down the mountain from the top of the Traverse/M1. M1 and Traverse have nice pisted snow, White Lady breakable crust low down.
M1 RaceTrack is in fairly decent nick though with some narrower bits, was pisted with good firm snow.
Heading down the Traverse into Coire Cas. Fast but not icy snow here, good for getting all the way along to join the Cas nearer the top.
105 is pisted down parallel to the Gunbarrel, but not sure what it's like nearer the Poma. Gunbarrel getting icy lower down, take care.
Skiers drop off Horizon Road onto the 105 after skiing the M1 Race Track.
Top leg of the Zig Zags looking towards the upper M1 Race Track and Horizon Road. Don't be taken in by the top Zig, the Zig Zags are broken.
Looking back along the 2nd leg of the ZZs. Thin and scratchy, with areas of water ice to avoid. Just possible to negotiate a route back to M1 Poma with skis on - but lower 2 legs bust.
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Very very quiet with only 50 or so skiers and boarders on the mountain thanks to earlier high winds that saw most take off to the Lecht.
By lunchtime CairnGorm had all of the currently available uplift on as the wind eased somewhat, but it was still fairly blowy at times.
The snow that fell on Sunday and Tuesday has been through some slight freeze thaw cycles, giving varying surface conditions depending on altitude and usage. Where pisted on the upper and middle slopes, crunchy slightly firm snow that's very pleasant to ski on. But where unpisted and lightly used on the mid-mountain, such as the White Lady the surface degenerated lower down into a breakable crust. M1 much better as pisted.
Gunbarrel is getting scraped and icy again, particularly lower down. Zig Zags are broken, but it was just possible to get to the M1 this way with care.
Carpark Run is just do-able with caution, the cover is thin and rather patchy but no breakable crust. Got down here with newly serviced skis and not a mark - it can be done if you ride slowly and take care!