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

Storm Dave brought the goods in terms of snow to Glencoe, with the full on mountain vertical of 1400ft available and it will be ride off the Access Chairlift and onto the Plateau Poma for Easter holiday Monday.

With lighter winds and brighter skies Monday is looking like a fantastic day for all ability levels at both CairnGorm and Glencoe, with Glencoe just edging CairnGorm for lifted vertical descent with the full sweep of Plateau runs skiable.

Hefty snow squalls were coming through at both Glencoe and CairnGorm on Easter Day, adding to the snow brought by Storm Dave. The strong wind did limit uplift on Sunday, with CairnGorm restricted to the Funicular and Cas T-bar, while at Glencoe the Wall T-bar making a late but very welcome season debut saved the day as it was too windy for the Cliffhanger Chair!

Much less wind expected for the bulk of Monday, particularly at Glencoe where the direction turns SE in the afternoon, with Glencoe usually getting less wind than generally forecast from that direction. Another couple of inches of new snow has fallen during Sunday, but it has been heavily drifting. Whereas a milder blip on Saturday evening means the heavy snow that fell on Saturday afternoon at Glencoe has left a fairly uniform cover across the Plateau and not been significantly redistributed by the wind. Thus with the Plateau Poma and Coire Pollach uptracks prepared for Monday, the triangle of Plateau green runs will be available, so terrain suitable for all ability levels.

There were fleeting bluebird moments at Glencoe, which revealed just how much the mountain had gained. The Main Basin was decidedly Scottish in terms of the overhead for much of Sunday, but the under-ski conditions were absolutely superb, giving the sweetest turns on windblown fresh. The Monday early birds will catch the packed powder corduroy worm on the Main Basin!

Check out the photos from Sunday for a full report on conditions at Glencoe. Those who took the gamble on an Easter slide were well rewarded in terms of the snow conditions and on Monday the overhead should be a lot friendlier than it was on Sunday!

At CairnGorm top to mid-station riding on a mix of green, blue and red terrain is on offer. While CairnGorm has been the definite pick for easier terrain thanks to the high level greens in the Top Basin, Glencoe will also be good for all ability levels on Monday. That said CairnGorm has the advantage of being able to ride the whole Cas mid-mountain area without using the surface lifts.

The White Lady retains a deep and full width base, with further snow showers topping it up this evening it is in superb condition.

Glenshee and the Lecht are currently closed for snowsports. At update the CairnGorm Ski Road, the A939 Lecht Pass and the A93 Cairnwell Pass were open, but that may well change overnight!

:: Glencoe Sledge Park

The Sledge Park is full length and refreshed after the weather let up enough to push out piles of fresh machine made snow. Snowmaking continues round the clock. There are over 150 sledges to grab at the Plateau Cafe, sledging is complimentary!

It is advisable to arrive before 2.30pm at the latest for sledging to get a decent amount of time on the hill. First chair up at 9am, the sledge park is always quietest before lunch time. Last chair down scheduled for 4.30pm. Check Access Chair update on Sunday AM.

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:: England Club Fields

All the club fields are waiting for new snow to be able to reopen.

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/ .

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:: Mountain Weather

At 6pm in the West at the Glencoe SSC hut (850m) the temperature was -2.6°c, no wind data is available. At the Top of the Access (671m) it was -0.4°c. At Base level (366m) it was +2.2°c with the wind at 12 gusting 37mph.

The SAIS summit AWS on Aonach Mor was reporting -4.8°c. The Met Office station was reporting a South West wind at 35 gusting 50mph. At the CIC Hut (680m) it was -1.6°c. At Tulloch Station (237m) the temperature was +4°c.

In the East the summit weather stations on CairnGorm reported -5°c, with a Storm Force Westerly at a mean of 62 gusting 76mph. At Aviemore the temperature at 6pm was +4°c.

The Met Office Cairnwell AWS reported -3°c with a West wind at a mean of 36 gusting 51mph.

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:: Mountain Forecast Discussion

Further convective snow showers will come in from the West this evening before fading out as a ridge builds in behind Storm Dave. Thus expecting a largely fine holiday Monday with a dry day with sunny spells and light to moderate SW wind. The wind will back SE, and begin to freshen, this will be less noticeable at Glencoe, but it will become fairly blustery on CairnGorm during the afternoon and into the evening. Longer sunny spells likely towards the East, hazier towards the West. Around -4°c at Munro Level as dawn comes in, rising to 0°c at Munro Level by lift closing time on Monday. Later the freezing level is expected to rise well above the summits overnight. SW 20 gusting 30mph at dawn, easing 15 gusting 20 to 25mph, before backing SE during the afternoon, gusts to 50mph into the evening for the Northern Cairngorms.

Perhaps into double figures at Munro Level on Tuesday to the North of the main mountain cores, with high teens likely in favoured low level spots to the North and NW of high ground with a strong SE airflow. Looks like overhead could be excellent to the North and West on a stiff SE wind, while more cloud spills into the Cairngorms from the SE during the day. At this stage it looks like it could be a cracking spring day at Glencoe, but a risk the SE winds could be strong enough to limit uplift on CairnGorm. There is quite a bit of uncertainty on wind speed, so check forecast updates. Glencoe nearly always fares better in SE winds.

Becoming more overcast for Wednesday, particularly in the West, with a risk of lower cloud and drizzle on hills closest to the coast. FL lowering to or close to the higher summits with between +2 and +4°c expected at Munro Level. Brighter for longer in the East, strong SE wind veering West and becoming moderate.

Balance of model output suggests cooler conditions returning to the Scottish mountains to end the week.

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:: Webcams and Weather Stations

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

GLENCOE: All mountain webcams online and the first updated images are shortly after 6am (BST). Sledge Park camera streams overnight. The mid mountain weather station wind direction is not working, other data valid.

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