General Situation // Scottish Ski & Winter Activity Report // Winterhighland

Glencoe is set to kick off the West Coast lift served season on Friday, but only the Coire Pollach Tow is scheduled for Friday serving Old Mugs Alley on the Plateau. Tickets for Friday will be available from the ticket office only, weekend tickets will go on sale on the website during Friday. During Friday machines will continue to work on building a usable uptrack for the Main Basin T-bar to allow access to the upper mountain.

Around 10 to 12 cm of new snow fall at Glencoe, but it narrowly missed out on heavier snow, with the freezing level nearing the summit for a time too. During the heaviest precipitation it was 2°c colder at the CIC Hut on Ben Nevis than at the same elevation at the top of the Access Chair at Glencoe. Infuriatingly it was the closed Nevis Range which caught by far the most snow overnight, with radar data indicative of at least 24 to 28cm of new snow (a SEPA recording station in Glen Nevis recorded 40mm of rain)! Alas, if you want to get out and on that, you will have to do a lot of leg work from around the 100m mark with the Gondola closed.

CairnGorm is able to offer top to Daylodge riding giving 1720ft of vertical on the Cas side. The Daylodge Poma run for the first time since Jan 2022, though at present it is only serving its own run (blue), but machines have been working on the West Wall Poma uptrack. If both the DLP and WWP are able to run at the weekend, its a big step up in capacity and alternative and often faster route to the top for advanced riders! Blustery Southerly winds will continue to transport loose snow into the snowsports area and downslope, so even though it looks mostly dry for the Northern Cairngorms, some areas will continue to freshen up.

After the big storm cycle at the weekend, the White Lady (red) and Cas Gunbarrel (blue) have a decent base and width, but the upper Cas (as is often the case in wind with an Easterly vector) is narrow, the uptrack and run still separate single groomer width strips in parts. The lower slopes have some thin and narrow areas, but are easily passable, which means almost the full vertical can be done avoiding the surface lifts via the funicular.

The Lecht has nearly all main runs complete and they are full width between the fences with machine groomed snow. A couple of thinner / narrower bits on links to/from the Eagle area, but generally held up very well in the wild/wet part of the storm cycle Sunday evening! The nursery slopes by the magic carpets have good cover thanks to the snow making. On the other side of the road the Buzzard faced into the full force of the wind, so the wide cover across the hillside has broken up, but the fenced runs and uptrack are still in decent shape. Overall the Lecht is the spot most likely to have the best of the overhead over the next 3 to 5 days.

The Cairnwell T-bar is giving access to the Race Tracks giving a longer red and blue run at Glenshee. The nursery areas and the short progression run from the Plastic Slope Poma are in good shape thanks to earlier snow making giving a solid machine made base. However with the Southerly winds on Sunday night, the slopes on Carn Aosda took a battering and the Butcharts Access Poma is closed. With winds tending to come from the SE quadrant over the coming days, Glenshee is likely to have the most cloud (though Friday should be a bit brighter), but it is also the spot where snow should continue to slowly accumulate.

All facilities at Nevis Range have been closed since Monday 5th January, including the base area. There is no lift assisted access to Aonach Mor for tourers or winter climbers at this time.

If heading to Glencoe for sledging it is advisable to arrive before 2pm at the latest for sledging to get a decent amount of time on the hill. First chair up at 9am, last chair up at 3.45pm and last chair down at 4pm. Beginner lessons are taking place for beginners on snow at the Plateau Cafe (weather permitting).

:: Lift Ticket Info

After recent media coverage of the heavy low level snow in various areas at the start of the year, demand for lift passes last weekend significantly outstripped the available uplift / terrain. The fact a lot of people are chomping at after missing out last weekend will only add to the demand this week.

As it stands, the tickets CairnGorm released at the start of the week are sold out for the weekend, but this will be reviewed on Friday in light of forecasts and more uplift now operating.

The Lecht have released tickets for the next four days, for both there and Glenshee advisable to pre-book or you could miss out.

Glencoe will put snowsports tickets for the weekend on sale during Friday, at update more work is needed to build a usable uptrack for the Main Basin T-bar and get runs linking to it. Cliffhanger and mid-mountain, plus Rannoch Chair will primarily be for access. Coire Pollach Tow will provide green terrain on the Plateau.

• top of page •

:: England Club Fields

The 3 Pennine Club Fields were able to open on Saturday, with a thin cover of new snow lying on frozen ground.

Weardale managed to open Sunday morning, with a decent covering of new snow overnight, but closed at lunchtime in rapidly deteriorating wet and windy weather. Weardale will not open again until colder temperatures and new snow return. Allenheads did not open as it was raining at the village elevation by morning.

For both Weardale and Allenheads, you need to join the club with a season pass, these are still available for both at this time.

Please check club access rules / availability if not a club member / pass holder.

Weardale: https: //skiweardale.com/ .
Allenheads: http://ski-allenheads.co.uk/ .
Yad Moss: https: //yadmoss.co.uk/ .
Raise: https: //www.ldscsnowski.co.uk/ .

• top of page •

:: Mountain Weather

At 8pm in the West at the Glencoe SSC hut at 850m the mid mountain temperature was -1.1°c, wind at 7 gusting 24mph. At Base level (366m) it was +2.0°c.

The SAIS summit AWS on Aonach Mor was reporting -4.0°c. The Met Office station was reporting a South wind at 34 gusting 44mph. At the CIC Hut (680m) it was +0.3°c. At Tulloch Station (237m) the temperature was +2.0°c.

In the East the CairnGorm Met Office Summit AWS reported -5.0°c with a Southerly at a 24 gusting 38mph. At Aviemore the temperature at 8pm was -0.3°c.

The Met Office Cairnwell AWS (3061ft /934m) reported -2.0°c with a South wind at a mean of 17 gusting 24mph.

• top of page •

:: Mountain Forecast Discussion

Things are settling down into a fairly benign picture for Highland Scotland into the weekend, with pressure rising to give a cool SE airflow. Further North and West are likely to see more in the way of brightness, while the Southern Cairngorms will see the most cloud, but also some slight further accumulations of snow in the coming days.

For Glenshee Friday currently looks the best day overhead wise. Into the weekend hill mist may reduce visibility at times, with light snow at times. Overall the Lecht is the spot likely to have the best of whatever overhead is going out of the ski areas, and wind speeds will generally be light there.

With a SE flow, wind speeds will freshen at times on and downslope of the Cairngorm Plateau, but this does not look like causing any uplift issued at the weekend and should have net positive in keeping moving some more loose snow into the ski area, so exploring could well get some fresh tracks each morning! It does however mean, cloud caps may spill over from further south in the range at times.

Friday and through the weekend, daytime freezing level is expected to be around the lower slopes with generally -1 to -2°c at Munro Level.

There is a risk of stronger SE winds developing during Monday or through the evening into Tuesday.

• top of page •

:: Webcams and Weather Stations

Lowther Hill: Leadhills webcam is online (24/7).

GLENCOE: All mountain webcams online and the first updated images will be shortly after 8am. The mid mountain weather station wind direction is not working, other data valid.

• top of page •