•Glencoe Sledge Park

•England Club Fields

•Mountain Weather

•Weekend Preview

•Mountain Forecast Discussion

•Webcams and Weather Stations

Glencoe has faired better for wind so far this week, having been open to the top everyday. CairnGorm has been StormBound the past 3 days, wind still looks problematic for Friday so check updates! At update A93 Cairnwell Pass open with slight snow, but A939 Lecht Pass closed both sides of the ski area.

Been out on the slopes - please send us your photos to the email address at the foot of this page.

As we were on Thursday, Glencoe opened on time to the top, Glenshee was also open from the get go, but strong Easterly wind curtailed lift options to those facing the road, the Lecht did open, but drifting again closed the Strathdon side again as the temperature fell back and CairnGorm remained StormBound with the Glenmore Gates shut !

Continuing high winds from the South East quadrant for Friday, so it may very well be a repeat performance of recent days. A couple of things to note, a temporary rise in freezing level overnight during the early hours of Thursday did dampen down lower level drifting, this has allowed some progress to be made on digging out the CairnGorm ski road, however the temperature has fallen back during Thursday and drifting is picking up again to lower levels as noted by the A939 closure on the Cockbridge side of the Lecht during the afternoon, so at least some of that digging out on CairnGorm maybe undone by Friday morning.

While the A93 was clear overnight last night, snow is falling tonight down to below the summit of the Cairnwell Pass with some drifting, it was open at update but check www.snowgatecameras.co.uk in the morning!

The snap thaw/freeze at lower to mid mountain level means there has been some consolidation of snow, but that is manifesting it as breakable crust in places off the groomed stuff.

Glenshee has seen further fresh snowfall today and could still see another 10 to 25cm of snow by the weekend. Fantastic surface conditions with machine packed fresh on pisted runs, Sunnyside has complete cover across the face making the fenced runs almost irrelevant. The poor visibility and continued significant drifting continue to hamper efforts to push outwards from the back of Sunnyside. The Caenlochan Poma was practically buried in places with snow up the sheaves on some towers.

With the wind now set to moderate markedly for or on Saturday morning, things are looking more promising for the weekend, but significant storm recovery work will be needed at CairnGorm after the wind eases and also at Glenshee to push out from the front of Sunnyside. On CairnGorm not as much snow has fallen as at Glenshee, but a huge volume of snow has blown in from the Plateau areas. It is not a uniform cover given the sustained wind, with very deep wind blown accumulations in some areas and open slopes exposed to the wind are scoured.

Glencoe has seen almost constant light snowfall for days now, the upper half of the Plateau area runs continue to slowly improve and fill out, but the bottom most section of the Plateau has deteriorated again in the yoyoing temperature, approaching the base of the Plateau Poma is decidedly agricultural! As such, Glencoe is best suited to more advanced riders at present as the best riding by far is on the upper mountain, but the visibility has been persistently poor above the Plateau. The green and easier blue terrain at Glenshee and the Lecht has better coverage at this time.

Base facilities at Nevis Range have reopened as of Wednesday 4th Feb. The Gondola is due to be open, but with strong SE to ESE winds forecast, check updates AM as it did not operate on Thursday.

:: Glencoe Sledge Park

The Sledge Park at the Plateau Cafe is in excellent condition! 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. Sledgers keep in mind, the Access Chair will be busier at the end of weekend days with snowsports underway, much quieter during the week.

:: England Club Fields

There has been some new snow over the past few days at both Weardale and Yad Moss, but not yet sufficient to open as the temperature rose above freezing in the early hours. There is a chance for further snow showers tonight, but the freezing level looks like going above the tops again during Friday and rising further on Saturday.

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/ .

:: Mountain Weather

At 6pm in the West at the Glencoe SSC hut (850m) the temperature was -3.0°c, variable wind at 3 gusting 6mph. At the Top of the Access (671m) it was -1.5°c. At Base level (366m) it was +0.5°c with a breeze at 4 gusting 19mph.

The SAIS summit AWS on Aonach Mor was reporting -3.7°c. The Met Office station was reporting wind at 19 gusting 57mph. At the CIC Hut (680m) it was -1.1°c. At Tulloch Station (237m) the temperature was +2.8°c.

In the East the Met Office Summit AWS on CairnGorm reported -5.7°c, while the Heriot Watt AWS reported an ESE wind at a mean of 49 gusting 57mph. At Aviemore the temperature at 6pm was +1.8°c.

The Met Office Cairnwell AWS is offline.

:: Weekend Preview

As noted below, wind speeds should moderate by or quickly during Saturday morning. So from a lift served snowsports perspective, everywhere should get open on Saturday, but there may be some delays in the morning and not all uplift that could potentially operate given snow cover necessarily will, at least until storm recovery work progresses.

The Lecht and Glencoe are most likely to have most of their uplift running from earlier on Saturday morning. Glencoe has the advantage of having been open to the top all week so far.

There are a few areas starting half term on Friday (the peak period starts a week on Friday) so equipment hire demand will be high. If you have your own kit, the advice is bring it! if you wish / need to hire on the mountain, book it in advance, this avoids possible disappointment and reduces delays getting onto the mountain or alternatively hire off site on route if that option works for you.

Some recent days have seen over 50% of people riding on hire equipment, that just is not deliverable for the numbers that can be at each snowsports area during half term. Fitting equipment safely takes time and it is just NOT physically possible to equip 400+ people for lift opening time at any of the areas!

:: Mountain Forecast Discussion

We remain in what has been (apart from a brief blip from Storm Chandra) a broadly South Easterly pattern. As has been the situation over the last while, the FL continues bouncing around between slightly below and slightly above the lower slopes, wind generally from the SE quadrant and speeds fluctuating.

Friday will see fairly continuous snowfall for the Eastern Cairngorms, continuing Severe Gale or Storm Force SE to East wind continuing, with -3 to -4°c at Munro Level. Widely 45 to 50mph with gusts to 60mph, likely higher in the Northern Cairngorms.

Recent forecast runs show that winds will moderate for a good chunk of the weekend, the question remains one of timing. At this stage it looks like wind will still be fairly strong into the pre-dawn period on Saturday, meaning continuing drifting will be an issue, but speeds should moderate further quite quickly on Saturday morning. The FL will also lift to or slightly above the lower slopes on Saturday morning, helping dampen down potential lower level drifting.

However, it is not looking like a bluebird weekend, overcast skies with light snowfall expected fairly widely, but less cold than Thursday / Friday, with around -1°c at Munro Level looking likely on Saturday, perhaps 0 to in a few spots +1°c on Sunday. Generally moderate SE wind, which should hold for Sunday then potentially ease further for Monday, but risk speeds will ramp back up later Monday or on Tuesday.

:: Webcams and Weather Stations

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

GLENCOE: All mountain webcams online and the first updated images are from the Top of the Access Chair are around 7am, other cams come on by 7.30am. Sledge Park camera streams overnight. The mid mountain weather station wind direction is not working, other data valid.