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CairnGorm Mountain from the Carpark Run.
New snow gun putting down a base on the middle Zig Zags.
Extensive cover building up on the Plateau, good touring potential weather permitting.
Fresh tracks to be had between the Traverse, M1 and 105 - beware of 'sharks'!
Mountain hare on the M1 RaceTrack.
View down the East Lady, forget the rock hoppers, take your widest planks and float above the granite!
Sweet tracks on the M1 RaceTrack.
Fresh corduroy awaits on Coire Cas.
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Only 1 more day to wait till the start of meteorological winter, the same till the start of the 2013 Scottish Snowsports Season in the Cairngorms with both CairnGorm Mountain and the Lecht aiming for a Saturday opening.
Snow has gradually been accumulating across CairnGorm over the past week, without a great deal of wind which means there is fairly extensive if not yet that deep cover. Fresh tracks were had between the Traverse and the 105, on the M1 RaceTrack and on the East Lady.
There should also be quite extensive high level touring options, weather permitting.
Do check the latest weather and official reports on Friday for the latest, but the state of play at dusk was that the Ciste T-bar is good to go with riding on the Fairway. The Ptarmigan Traverse has been pisted, the Bowl and uptrack will be checked out on Friday and Saturday morning.
For more experienced riders there should be a groomed run from the Top Station to the Sheiling via the Traverse, Coire Cas and the Zig Zags (where the new TechnoAlpin snow guns are doing there stuff to get this complete).
Summit to Daylodge riding was achieved on Thursday by people up touring. With some off the off piste that was ridden today, rather than the usual early season rock hoppers, maybe its the wide floaty skis you want this weekend. Stay on top of the freshies and above the granite!
A big thank you to Helen and Paul for todays photos, while I was spreading some pre-season stoke with Warren Miller's Flow State at the Hippodrome in Bo'ness - a fantastic turnout tonight.