Scotland’s top winter sports resorts are set to welcome thousands of skiers and boarders in near “perfect” conditions this weekend.
Only a few days ago the slopes at the country’s five ski centres were bereft of the white stuff.
But now after recent heavy snow falls the pistes are said to be “amazing.”
A combination of clear skies and low temperatures is expected to give the Scottish ski resorts a major boost this weekend.
At Nevis Range, near Fort William, all lifts were running except one.
At Cairn Gorm Moutain near Aviemore conditions were described as “crystal clear”.
“Amazing conditions at present, although forecasts are suggesting more snow today with the wind picking up later in the day,” it said.
In Glenshee in Braemar most runs were also complete thanks to “a dusting of fresh snow on a packed base.”
A spokesman for the ski resort said: “We have good cover higher up, narrow and thin in places lower down.”
And at Glencoe all the runs on the mountain are open with the exception of the Car Park Run.
The Lecht in Aberdeenshire also said it had “good cover of snow on all runs.” But today it did have “poor visibility.”
The ski season officially opened at some Scottish resorts in mid-January but the temperatures rose unexpectedly the following week, thawing out much of the base snow needed for skiing. Storm force winds also removed a lot of the snow.
But temperatures have plummeted again this week, leaving many of the Scottish hills blanketed in thick snow.