Top of Cairngorm down towards Raibert. Skis off before Coire Raibert was reached, and put on again after a hike up the flank of Stob Coire an t-Sneachda which enabled a ski to the top of Coire Domhain. A short hike back to ski diagonal gully and back up C Raibeirt over into Coire Cas

Cloud thinned through the morning, and it was mainly sunny after about 13: 00. Very warm with little wind.

Very good spring snow. Saturday's rain has stripped all the recent snow, and what remains is firm. Hilary, who skied the SW descent from Cairngorm onThursday 16 May, would not now recognise it. Coire Raibeirt is narrow, and broken at top of steep section.

jungle and David Johnson (Snowball)

andrew dot napier1 at btinternet dot com

This was not planned but when I saw the fresh snow I decided it was a must !
Cairngorm to Coire Raibert then to Cairn Lochain and down Lurchers

Overcast , calm, great visibility, below freezing till mid Lurchers.

Fresh powder to Coire Raibert. I kept the skins on till Cairn Lochain but you could have had a short ski down into Coire Domhain.
Great skiing off Cairn Lochain and with a bit of rock dodging it was possible to get to the Lairig Ghru side of the Meadow just above Lurchers. Very short carry to the top of Lurchers then about 1.25 mile of continuous snow , great at the start , sticky in the middle then spring like at the end. Walked over to join the path just below the stream crossing .
Fantastic tour - never done it in May before

Helen

h11lly at hotmail dot com

Crotched Gully and Central Gully

unimaginably good, warm, wall to wall sunshine, bluebird with the occasional marbling of wispy clouds high over head...

spring snow, grippy, soft-ish, smooth and delightful : o)

Entrance to Crotched was super-steep; and the route was broken by a mandatory jump of probably about 15ft or so (hard to say), but landing was perfect and ski-out a delight.

Central Gully still surprisingly wide and comfortable. Even the chimney sections were a full ski-length wide, so no mandatory straight-lined bits.

theph mack, Jamie Johnston

phmackenzie at gmail dot com

Up to top of Cairngorm, then walked down towards the top of Cas headwall as there was no snow there... Pushed with freeheel but no skins round back of Sneachda, and up to top of Hell's Lum Crag. Skied Hell's Lum gully - full write up below... Back up just to the north of there, between HL and Stag Rocks, then up to top of Central Gully, but dropped left off the top, onto the snow next to the Runnel, and into the Runnel gully about halfway down where it became wider than a ski-length. From bottom of Sneachda, the classic "valley of poos and holes" (actually pretty clean this year) is in great shape, and freeheeled along it to a 7min walk back up over into the Cas bowl. Skied Fiacaill Ridge poma up-track with a bit of heather/rock-hopping back to the level of the carpark.

despite sun when I arrived, it was cloudy to the top of Cairngorm and then rained a bit on my way over to HL - but that made things soft and skiable, so no complaints. On and off dull and damp until back, but not that much rain...

Hell's Lum, which was the main event:
... well, it was in condition, but I can't think it is anymore... But it's been done. Actually, was only going to have a look, but when I got there, it was pretty obvious that it was either have a go now or forget it until next season, so what could an honest, hard-working freeride skier do? Could get in around the cornice, so never unclipped the rope and ice axe from my bag. Entrance was steep, and required jumping over about 4ft of rock, so probably 8ft of air by the time skis hit snow. A couple of jump turns in soft, agreeable snow where it was narrow but not excessively so (maybe two to three ski-lengths?), but then it got more serious. down to about a ski length and a half wide, but of that, at least a third was more like ice than snow - I guess it was the top of the ice-bulge Al Todd mentioned, in partially melted state. After a bit of side-slipping, the remaining ski-length of "good" snow got so concave that my 187's were badly bridging, so I had to slip forward onto the icy bit, *try* to get/hold an edge and basically slip until I landed on the softer snow about 10-12ft below. Edge bit, and then it widened up to about one and a half ski lengths again (positively spacious...), with sustained steepness (note icicle in picture, for vertical reference). Got in another jump turn before a crack above a short (maybe 4-5ft? Not more than 6) vertical section, which was quite easily jumped and had a nice buld-up of soft-looking spring snow below it, about two and a half widening to three ski-lengths across. The snow, however, was sitting on such a steep angle that it didn't catch a skiers weight particularly well falling from 8ft above, so there was again some rather undignified sidewards motion untli my edges bit... But they did bite, before the route narrowed between the rocks again, to about two ski lengths wide, but with nice, even cover of soft snow. A few more metres and a groove opened up in the centre of the route, where the sluff and debris from above was carving out it's own wee valley, but with a bit of pointing and a bit of jumping, the job was done... Very satisfying, at least for a good few hours afterwards, as is the way with such physical endeavours. A semi-pro rider once said to me that freeride skiing is about 90% about the conditions, and after today, I have to agree. It was super-fun, but where you can get down Aladdin's Mirror and even Central Gully on hard snow, this would have been suicide on neve. Am thankful to have come down it safely; it would have been very hard for a person to follow today, as I'd compacted the landings from the mandatory jumps, and there's just not much room in there. IF more snow falls and blows in there, who knows? For my money though, it would have been much better last weekend, when Diagonal Gully was so good, as it's a very similar aspect... I am reminded once again of Jamie's "in the mountains, as in life.." remarks from Wake, about the trails we leave behind; and I find myself thinking of a chap called David who loved wild spaces too, who said "I lift my eyes up to the mountains, where does my help come from..." http://tinyurl.com/bwnkqwf - He guards you when you leave, and when you return... Let's keep on keep coming back safely, OK? P

theph mack, solo

phmackenzie at gmail dot com

From Cairngorm summit skied down Coire Raibeirt on creamy fresh snow - enormous fun on fat skis. Skinned across plateau to Castlegates gully, with some more great snow in Garbh Usige Beag on the way (spotted a guy lapping this a couple of times).

Skied Castlegates about 2 pm - nice spring snow though slightly tricky entrance (especially on longer skis). Had lunch at bottom then skinned up Coire Domhain - saw a few big rockfalls coming off Hell's Lum - stayed well clear.

Got to top of Aladdin's around 4 pm - mostly nice spring snow - apart from a nasty icy patch just before Aladdin's Seat threatening a surprise trip down Aladdin's Mirror. Skied part way down Coire an t-Sneachda then 45 minute walk back to ski area car park.

Bluebird morning with very little wind, patchy cloud in the afternoon, with wind gusting a bit around 4pm.

Creamy fresh snow in Coire Raibeirt and Garbh Usige Beag - full cover on plateau. Spring snow in Castlegates gully - skiable from top for about 300m vertical. More spring snow in Aladdin's , starting to refreeze late afternoon with some icy patches.

Mark R + Guy H