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Cairnwell from Carn Aosda. Cairnwell RaceTracks in good nick with pisted packed snow, Carn Aosda thin at the top.
| Looking back from the top of Tom Dearg to the Home Run from Fionn Coire.
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The car park from the Carn Aosda T-bar.
| Tom Dearg Poma and run from the Home Run. Good cover between the fences.
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Cluny Pomas and runs from the Home Run, like Tom Dearg good cover between the fences and no problem getting down to Tom Dearg.
| The sun attempts to make an appearance during brighter afternoon spells above Glas Maol.
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So Heaven is a halfpipe?
| A big wide shallow halfpipe called Centre Gully!
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First signs of it brightening up at the top of the Glas Maol Poma.
| Looking down Glas Maol's Centre Gully from part way down.
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Meall Odhar Poma, all routes back from Fionn Coire in good nick. Lots to explore on Meall Odhar.
| Meall Odhar T-bar, this is where it all begun at Glenshee in 1957 with the first T-bar installed in Scotland.
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Piste Basher comes down the Caenlochan, it went back up the T-bar and off left, private packed powder corduroy stash, only 1 other boarder worked out the way in!
| The Bottleneck (Beag) Poma. If going to Caenlochan you can just traverse round the ridge from the top of Cluny.
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A sign of the times. Several inches more snow and considerable drifting on Thursday morning.
| The A93 just West of Ballater, kept snowing all the way up with quite heavy drifting in a few spots.
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A snowy start to Thursday with several inches of fresh snow and some significant drifted accumulations, which meant problems on the roads. The A93 was open from the North but difficult in places, but was closed for much of the morning till just after noon from the South.
On the slopes the fresh snow has further helped cover up the scoured areas, but there are still a few scrapped areas through to the solid base, giving icy patches.
Glas Maol's opening was delayed due to near zero visibility early on and concern about avalanche risk, however this was reassessed when visibility improved and deemed OK. When it did open for the afternoon there was some absolutely fantastic riding to be had, esp out in Centre Gully with a mix of windblown powder, tracked up and skier packed powder, machine packed groomed areas and even some powder bumps and drifted wind lips.
The fresh snow means the Tiger and Thunderbowl opened up in the afternoon along with the Cairnwell Chair. All runs are complete with a mostly good cover, best snow on Glas Maol and Meall Odhar, but good between the fences around the Cluny and Sunnyside. Good cover on the links around the area and the Meall Odhar Cafe is open, so no need to come all the way back for refreshments.
On the Cairnwell side there are some thin scratchy areas around the top of the Carn Aosda and the foot of the RaceTracks, but the Cairnwell RaceTracks themselves are in good nick between the fences with pisted packed snow.
Picks of the day, Centre Gully for unpisted stuff and the original Meall Odhar run of the Caenlochan Poma for pisted packed powder. Photos by Winterhighland.
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