Officially the available patrolled piste on offer is the tried and tested route down the Traverse, the 105 into Coire Cas, through the Zig Zags and onwards via the Home Road to the Base Station. If you wish to ride on prepared marked pistes and know their patrolled, they provide some great early season sport on mostly green runs, along with the Ptarmigan Bowl which is now open and providing great areas for novices at the top.

However if you like things untouched by the machines, deep drifts, and wide off-piste turns, well most runs across the mountain are complete, providing superb early season sport for advanced skiers and boarders. Be it a long cruise down the M2 to carve tracks on the Daylodge Poma, letting rip on the White Lady or M1, or getting your short radius turns honed to perfection on the M1 SideTrack (reported to be amongst the best of the best!), or taking it easy on the Carpark Run, do it soon!

The off-piste East Lady has seen some action, but the Lady or M1 is a better bet, the East Lady is a boulder field, and with no base there are some hidden horrors for your bases. That apart, throw away the early season rock hoppers and get the real toys out! Finally a note of caution, most of the mountain is un-patrolled, so hazards are not marked, you ride out with the officially open route at your own risk, take care and have fun!

Thanks to Helen Rennie and Brian Russell for Tuesday's photos. Please send yours to pix@winterhighland.com and help keep the pixfromtheslopes as up to date as possible.