J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by Snow Time

Cairngorm was beautiful today with blue skies and no wind. Unfortunately nearly all of the runs are icy, particularly the reds.

At the top, the Ciste Bowl and Fairway are still fine but as soon as you drop into the Ciste Gully you have sugar coated ice. If the temperature rises just a couple of degrees during the day we will have some lovely spring snow.

Skied Cairngorm this morning and conditions are still good with firm, grippy snow despite the recent rise in temperature. The snow lower down is starting to turn into spring snow but I saw no slush and very little ice all day.

The hill fog was at about 2500' at 9am but rose during the day leaving the tops clear by about 2pm. Initially the West Wall Poma was off (meaning either a funicular or Car Park-Cas-M1 combination to get to the top) but the tow was on again by about 10:30.

Day Lodge, M2, Fiacaill Ridge, Cas and Gunbarrel were in good condition but quite busy, but M1 and White Lady were quieter, although also complete with good snow.

Ryvoan is still closed, as is Bynack, Aonach Bowl and the West Wall (although the website says they are open) but quite a few skiers and boarders were ducking the ropes and skiing them anyway.

Over Yonder (unpisted) and Ciste Gully still allow you to ski back to the Ciste car park.

Across the mountain the fence posts and one or two rocks are starting to show through so it's worth keeping your eyes peeled.

Another great day out with plenty of skiing left before the end of the season.   

I didn't say it was safe and all skiers take their own risks whether skiing on or off piste. There is a huge amount of snow on the hills at the moment with a ski pole depth of soft snow on top of the firm stuff.

I would rather hit a wooden fence post tip rather than a rock any day (although I would rather hit neither). I would hope anyone considering skiing an off piste red would be experienced enough to be aware of possible obstructions and ski their route accordingly.

With the funicular having problems at CGM I skied the Lecht today after the roads were finally opened at 11am. Conditions are very good although the wind has taken all of the snow from the ridge leave just ice. From about 15 metres off the top you are back into mainly squeaky (ish) snow.

Due to the clearing work in the morning the only runs open were Eagle, Grouse, Robin, Wren & the Magic Carpet. Later on Buzzard opened but was not pisted. The greens and blues were in good condition, although a little chewed up, but off piste from the Buzzard tow was excellent. Most of the fences are under snow giving a massive area to ski across with virtually no tracks or hazards. By 3:30pm you could ski straight onto the Buzzard poma - result!

Cairngorm was fantastic today with no wind and clear skies apart from about 15 minutes of hill fog first thing. Lovely squeaky snow across the whole mountain and although the Ciste car park was half full by 0845 the tows had only small queues.

On the Ciste side, Ciste Bowl and Fairway are in brilliant condition for beginners and Ciste Gully and the newly pisted Coire Laogh Mor are very good for more advanced skiers. There is some excellent off-piste skiing between No 1 and No 2 Gully with plenty of untracked areas from the top of Laogh Mor dropping into the Ciste Gully. The route back to the Ciste car park is still in great condition.

Traverse was a little icy but 105, Cas, Zig Zags and the Lower Slopes were very good. If only every Cairngorm day was like today!

That makes sense - the vis on Saturday was down to 30m at times. Even knowing the mountain really well it was
very difficult to navigate without using the funicular or tow lines as a reference. The signage at Cairngorm is very poor for visitors and I don't blame you for staying below the cloud line.

I skied Cairngorm yesterday and conditions were very good across the mountain. Apart from a little bit of lumpy ice at the edges of White Lady it was firm packed snow above Sheiling station. Unfortunately because of the huge amount of snow during the last 2 months, White Lady now ends below the M1 Poma, not above it as usual, so you have to either ski off the mountain or side step up to the Cas t-bar.

On the West Wall side of the range there is still some good off-piste skiing (although a little tracked) but the snow flurries keep freshening things up.

I saw more ice on the reds and blacks in Alpe d'Huez last month than I have seen in Scotland so folk need to keep things in pespective. The biggest problem this year has been clearing the access roads and keeping the funicular running - the snow has been excellent!

You should have made it clear in your original post .......... oh you did. I should have read your original post properly! :oops: