PICTURES: Cairngorm Mountain ski slopes in Highlands in the frame after heavy snow and gales
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Staff at Cairngorm Mountain have made it back to the resort after having to clear the biggest drifts seen on the upper section of the ski road for nearly 40 years.
Winds gusting 90mph since Friday caused major drifts of the large amount of snow which has accumulated in recent weeks.
Operations manager Colin Matthew said: “Though there has been a considerable rise in temperature from last week we still have vast amounts of snow across the mountain and the greatest depth seen on our access roads in many years.
"The high winds over the weekend have scoured some of the ridges but the ski area remains in excellent condition.
"We expect it to remain cold enough at base station level during this southerly front to preserve the snowpack and hope that colder weather will return later in the month.”
Long-serving staff at the resort have said it is probably the most snow on the access road since the early 1980s.
Cairngorm Mountain had posted images of the snow clearing in progress yesterday stating: "Hopeful we can get further up the hill tomorrow to see what’s occurring."
There has been plenty of reaction on social media to the images of the most snow at the resort for the past decade.
Adrian Harris joked: "For the sake of all our mental health could you just post 'Worst season ever, no snow at all' until you are actually able to open?"
Gordon McAndrew posted: "Absolutely gutted for you guys that you can’t open to take advantage. 2010 was awesome so if you’ve had even more snow than then it must be amazing. Remember chatting to a lift operator in 2010 and he told me some runs were open that hadn’t been open since the 1980s."
Steve Shaw said: "Best skiing I did in Scotland was for five days at Cairngorm just after the school holidays back in 2013, snowed at night and clear skies during the day, was amazing."
Robert Farnham recalled: "I remember 1986 when it was four metres deep across from the Whitelady car park to top car park and the old summit cafe up had to go down the steps from the roof door to get in."
Dan Edmunds posted: "Gutted I can’t get up there this year."
