Bennachie. Red routes are uphill and bue is my descent. Intended route was East face Mither Tap. Due to wind scouring decided North slopes would fair better. Parked near Kirkton of Oyne. Limited access, basically 1 space at the foot of the hill. Followed the path from Nursery Cott and was lucky to find some tracks from a skiers descent which I followed up making things much easier up to ~350m where the base was nice and firm. Good coverage in that natural bowl so decided a direct run first was a good idea. Once slope eased off I headed back up again and went to the top of Craigshannoch. Some fantastic drifts up there. Managed a short steep section off the granite tor where the drifts were very deep then took direct line to the forest and followed it round all the way back to the path. Skiing was possible right back to the car. Note, tree felling has changed this map a bit with forest cut back to the west side of the Nursery Cott burn.

At 16: 10pm Overcast but clouds just around summit level on approach. No wind. 2 degC. A snowy shower came in near the first ascent but quickly cleared. Visibility was excellent.

Snow at car park level ~150m had been quite deep and compacted down to give maybe 2" of decent cover. From 200m - 350m snow was probably 1 foot deep and fairly compacted. Without existing tracks this would still have been tough, especially where the slope began to ramp up. From 350m there were decent snow patches/fields and compacted well with lovely inch or so of fresh snow. Made for lovely turns on the way down. Below 350m turns were still possible with good speed.

Geoff