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Daylodge Run in the best shape of the season, shame about the wind strength and direction late afternoon!
| Lower Burnside approaching the Daylodge Bridge. Carpark Run in good shape for full length now.
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Heading round the top corner of Burnside.
| Going up the Sheiling Trainer Tow, good low level areas for novices. Lady beyond to inspire you onwards and upwards.
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Remember the snow guns running in a storm the other week, the end result is a filled burn gully flat at the foot of the Sheiling.
| Top of the Carpark Run, good riding to Daylodge. Skiers right of the 3 fenced lines was best surface conditions here Saturday.
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White Lady was superb for advanced riders. Machine packed powder and skier packed and hint of bumps to the right.
| Looking under the Cas gantry and the end of the lower Zig Zag leg.
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Funicular underpass onto the White Lady from the M1 SideTrack. Lady Luck complete also, but wind was against you on Sat.
| Ciste Bowl was by miles the pick of the Top Basin, constantly catching windblown fresh on machine packed powder base.
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Looking over the Ptarmigan Bowl to the Top Station.
| Fenced Fiacaill Run is complete along with the Fiacaill Traverse, mixed surfaces but a longer run off the Cas T-bar.
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Looking down the Ptarmigan Bowl. There are 1 narrow rail, 1 wide rail and two boxes out, the narrow rail was blocked off though.
| The Zig Zags are in superb shape, machine packed powder hero snow on a deep and consolidated base.
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Looking up at the top corner of the Traverse at the M1 RaceTrack split!
| Checking out the phenomenal drift below the top Zig Zag fence, still dithering whether this is good or bad!
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The wind eased (relatively) for daylight hours on Saturday, allowing a fantastic day's riding with top to Daylodge offering 1750ft vertical to the foot of the Carpark T-bar, via either the Cas side mid-mountain runs and Carpark Run or via the M2 and Daylodge.
Things didn't quite go to plan earlier in the day, shortly before first light the power went out to the whole of the Glenmore corridor thus also blacking out the mountain and there was a fire in the Daylodge too! After a couple of false starts the power was back on and stayed on, but it meant a delayed opening.
With uncertainty as to whether the mountain could open at all, due to the power fault and time to repair it not being known for a while, many diverted to the Lecht and Glenshee. The Lecht had it's busiest day of the season, but also got all uplift open. However it meant that despite the Cas carparks being full, there was little in the way of queuing for those that were on CairnGorm. Apart for occasional waits at the M1 Poma, there was mostly only a few people in front, if that on some of the lifts.
Great riding on offer for all ability levels, and weather permitting the range for more advanced riders could go up a notch on Sunday. The West Wall Poma opened during the afternoon and it's hoped to open the Ciste Gully area on Sunday. The Ciste Gully was absolutely loaded last week (See photos from last Wednesday) prior to the most recent storms, so it should be fairly epic.
High winds will return after an early lull on Sunday, please check the latest in the morning on route.
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