Bad weather gave way to clear blue skies and sunshine. Generally there's a brilliant powdery cover across the mountain which fell last night, but due to the lack of base as of yet, the cover is a bit thinner at lower altitudes with the odd hidden rock to be wary of.
The Ptarmigan Bowl and Ciste Fairway are in good shape, as is the M1, M1 Race Piste and White Lady which all offered unpisted snow. The White Lady was complete down the left hand side - excellent in the morning but by late afternoon it was scraped smooth. The Carpark runs were complete, but narrow with thin areas, and rocks showing through. The Fiacaill Traverse was in good nick, but rocks in the middle of the piste just after you turn the first corner, the Fiacaill crossover was also complete but with one small icy section.
The Traverse offered full width cover, as did the 105 and upper Cas. The Cas boulderfield was doable but best avpoded due to hidden rocks. The Gunbarrel was complete and crowded with people - so potential for carnage! The snow was good though, a thin layer of powder ontop of a firm base. It is becoming gouged out and scraped down the middle, so as a result all the snow is being pushed towards the sides and in places closely resembles a halfpipe, but with no vert! If the Gunbarrel looks too daunting for you, the Zig Zags are another option with the corners now complete.
We spent nearly our entire afternoon on the West Wall, which conveniently opened at noon via the West Wall Chair. The slopes were unpisted and offered deep powdery slopes, but watch for the few hidden and visible boulders. Generally fantastic skiing. The East Wall looks promising, and doesn't need much more before there will be more people on it - yes some folk attempted it. On the less positive side, the Ciste burn is now visible in many places, so has lost much of it's snow bridge. The queues for the Coire na Ciste and Ptarmigan T-Bar's had waits of around 15-20 minutes, but the rest of the uplift had a maximum wait of around 10-15minutes, minimum of 2. If you find yourself at the end of a queue, go in as a single so when they call for them you can bypass the rest of the queue and get back up the hill quicker.
