•Glencoe Sledge Park

•England Club Fields

•Mountain Weather

•Mountain Forecast Discussion

•Webcams and Weather Stations

CairnGorm Mountain and Glencoe are offering top and some mid mountain spring riding, strong winds will move in during Monday with Severe Gale or Storm Force winds continuing through Tuesday and likely Wednesday. Possible ridge of high pressure on Thursday, after fresh snow mid-week!

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

Blustery and wet conditions for a time overnight cleared to give a decent Sunday with granular spring snow from the get go after damper / milder air at the end of the night. Temperature and dew points have been falling this afternoon and Munro Level temperature may get as low as -2 or -3°c by dawn on Monday. Thus Monday morning will be a morning for sticking to the pisted stuff as expecting the spring snow to skin over and set up firm to hard tonight, good edges will make everything more enjoyable!

If you are planning a Monday slide then it is not a day for hanging about to see what the weather does, the brightest overhead and lightest winds will be around opening time, precipitation should hold off till after lunchtime in the West, but a fairly abrupt increase in wind speed as frontal precipitation sets in during the afternoon, so an early close to uplift is possible depending on just how quickly the front moves in. Ironically as the frontal precipitation sets in the snowpack may start to loosen up more generally as temperature begins to edge up, so the best surface conditions may come with the worsening weather through the afternoon!

An unsettled week and changeable week coming up with spells of rain, spells of hill snow, bouts of strong winds and a yo-yoing temperature, with snow falling to below the lower slopes of the snowsports areas during mid-week. Early indications are for a ridge of high pressure to roughly be in time with lift operating hours on Thursday, so that looks worth keeping an eye on for a possible mid-week slide, particularly with the forecast snowfall on Tuesday and Wednesday .

The main action is on Cas side mid mountain and the Top Basin on CairnGorm and on the upper mountain at Glencoe. So while there is still a decent range of terrain for all abilities to get their edges into, overall for mixed ability groups and those looking for green to easier intermediate terrain then CairnGorm is the better option as it offers top station to mid station riding from the Funicular and has selection of green terrain at the top of the mountain.

Glencoe is only suitable for stronger intermediates and above at present, the Cliffhanger and mid mountain is primarily for access and when it softens up, the Wall (red). The links down Old Mugs Alley are now broken from the Rannoch Chair after the overnight rain last night, so it is a 6-8 min walk across the Plateau to the Cliffhanger Chair. The Main Basin and Happy Valley are being pisted each morning. The full length of the Main Basin has been getting skied with the Haggis Trap seeing some action, but it is rather hardcore due to a massive wall of snow having drifted across the exit which is unusually high vs the bottom of the trap! If you want mellower turns take a left and loop round the bottom of Happy Valley to avoid the Haggis Trap!

On CairnGorm the White Lady remains wide and deep and has been superb when loosening up into spring snow. It is being pisted fairly regularly, so even when firm it should be grippy and decent on the groomed line. The Traverse is in good shape, as is the Gunbarrel and the top legs of the Zig Zags, but the upper Cas is narrow and in places thin, a symptom of the prevalence of SE winds early in the season, regularly stripping out the Upper Cas and dumping the snow in the Gunbarrel!

Glenshee and the Lecht are currently closed for snowsports. Indeed it is likely Glenshee is now closed for the season, whereas the Lecht can come back from nothing due to convective snowfall on spring Northerlies even into May! Nevis Range is closed for snowsports.

:: Glencoe Sledge Park

The Sledge Park is full length and in good shape thanks to snow making from the snow factory. There are over 150 sledges to grab at the Plateau Cafe! 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.

:: 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/ .

:: Mountain Weather

At 6pm in the West at the Glencoe SSC hut (850m) the temperature was +0.6°c, with wind at 8 gusting 34mph. At the Top of the Access (671m) it was +2.5°c. At Base level (366m) it was +5.3°c.

The SAIS summit AWS on Aonach Mor was reporting -2.7°c. The Met Office station was reporting a WSW wind at 26 gusting 43mph. At the CIC Hut (680m) it was +1.9°c. At Tulloch Station (237m) the temperature was +5°c.

In the East the summit weather stations on CairnGorm reported -3.4°c, with a Westerly at a mean of 35 gusting 47mph. At Aviemore the temperature at 6pm was +9.5°c.

The Met Office Cairnwell AWS reported 0°c with a WNW at a mean of 25 gusting 38mph.

:: Mountain Forecast Discussion

Blustery for a time this evening, but the wind speeds should ease back again during the night. The best of Monday will be post dawn through till around lunchtime, thereafter wind will begin to increase steadily with a stormy spell through until the early part of Thursday.
By dawn on Monday it looks like the freezing level will be back down to the lower slopes of the ski areas before lifting to Munro Level during the afternoon as frontal precipitation moves in, rain preceded briefly by snow on the mountains before the freezing level rises to just above the higher summits into Monday night. A decent morning is expected,, but probably a day to stick to the groomers with a colder start than recently. Light to moderate SW wind around 15 gusting 25mph post dawn, but swift ramping up of wind speed from the West as the front approaches during the afternoon, so an early close of play is possible. By dusk expect wind widely around 50 gusting 70mph on the higher tops, with gusts to or above 80mph on and around the Cairngorm Plateau and through the Nevis Range mountains.

Tuesday is likely to see a wintry mix of precipitation and high winds, there is still some divergence in how fast the freezing level falls back from the period of overnight rain on Monday night, but on balance it looks like snow will be falling at least on upper slopes by or soon after dawn, with the snow level lowering to or below the lower slopes of the ski areas by mid to late afternoon. Around +2°c at Munro Level at dawn lowering -2°c by dusk on Tuesday.

Both Tuesday and Wednesday look likely to see Gales or Severe Gales, with periods of Storm Force winds on Highland mountains. There will be some new mountain snow, precipitation heavier and more frequent towards the West Highlands, where clusters of convective showers may merge together into some longer spells of mountain snowfall on a W to NW airstream. Freezing Level may drop below the lower slopes by Wednesday. Small risk of thunderstorms blowing up in the convective shower cells as colder air aloft comes in off the sea later Tuesday and during W
ednesday.

Early indications are that a transient ridge of high pressure will cross Highland Scotland during daytime Thursday, current expectations are that the high winds will moderate from the West during the dawn period with snow showers fading from the West. A largely dry and fine Thursday is expected during lift operating hours with light to moderate variable winds, starting NW or WNW, backing SW as the ridge passes overhead.

Further bands of frontal hill snow look likely to move in through Friday with strong to Gale Force winds there will be considerable drifting. Some uncertainty on temperature, but Munro Level temperature likely to fall between 0 and -3°c.

Deep areas of low pressure passing over or close to Highland Scotland and very transient ridges in between to follow, timing of whether we see ridges during daylight hours or night time will have a big impact on usability of next weekend. On balance it looks like the start of British Summer Time on Sunday will be decidedly autumnal !

:: Webcams and Weather Stations

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

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