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 The Traverse still loaded and banked out well above the fences till the flat bit.
|  Warming up in Coire Cas, snow here got crunchy and faster again late on.
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 Various take offs on the huge kicker in the Ptarmigan Bowl.
|  Top of the Ptarmigan Tow, Ptarmigan Traverse still good - park line loaded.
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 Wide flat rail at the top of the Ptarmigan Park.
|  Hitting the tube rail in the top section of the Park.
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 Tyre jib and spine in the Park.
|  One of the easier ride on boxes in the Terrain Park. There's 2 other short flat boxes above this.
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 Ciste Bowl still in good shape, the rider cross has mellowed but is still good fun.
|  Spring bump bashing on the White Lady...
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 The temperature was rising (20°c in Aviemore) and so was the height of the bumps (slowly).
|  Inopportune place for a wee stream to pop up, but a Piste Basher moved more snow down the M1 uptrack this evening.
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 Launching onto the wide tube rail in the Park.
|  Heading for the White Lady using the top of the Traverse. Can also get a few turns in on M1 RaceTrack then sharp right.
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 Hitting a wide rail in the Ptarmigan Park.
|  Looking down the top of the Ptarmigan Park.
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STOP PRESS: From Wednesday 8th May if you have a valid 2013 Season Pass from the Lecht, Nevis Range, Glencoe or Glenshee you can use it to hit the 'Gorm for free! CML will honour all valid 2013 Scottish Season Passes till the lifts stop turning, just pop into the Base Station ticket office to collect your comp day ticket.
It was a superb Tuesday and a taste of Summer for Highland Scotland, with Aviemore breaking through the 20°c mark and recent strong winds easing to a nice breeze. Despite the spring thaw there is still some great fun to be had on CairnGorm Mountain, so don't put the toys away just yet - get up and play while you can.
If you like the Park, then the Ptarmigan Park currently has 7 advanced rails (mix of narrow and wide) and 3 novice short flat wide boxes that are ride on. There is also a pipe jib, tyre jib on top of a spine and 2 huge kickers with alternative take offs. Though the thaw has mellowed it, the Rider Cross course in the Ciste Bowl is still a blast and it's a gentle introduction to freestyle riding.
On the runs the cover is still good and pretty wide in the Ptarmigan and Ciste Bowls, though slushy to skiers left of the Ptarmigan Bowl for a bit. Ciste Fairway is narrow lower down, still a decent run though.
Moving down from the top the Traverse remains absolutely loaded, best route is straight on at the 105 corner onto the Upper Cas. Coire Cas is narrow in the middle, but widens out into the Gunbarrel which is still basically flat. The top 2 legs of the Zig Zags retain full cover and allow the steeper 2/3rds of the Gunbarrel to be bypassed, the lower third is as mellow as it can be, so still a good run for early intermediates from top to mid-station 90% on green trails.
Sadly we've lost the M1 RaceTrack to the thaw, it's directly exposed to the recent warm west winds. That said the top third is excellent and provides an unusual route onto the White Lady, which once again was the stand out run of the day. Great spring snow, bumps and not so bumpy lines and just great fun spring sport, under bluebird skies on Tuesday.
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