•England Club Fields

•Mountain Weather

•Mountain Forecast Discussion

•Webcams and Weather Stations

Limited beginner terrain on machine made snow is due to be open this weekend at CairnGorm and Glenshee, along with the Glencoe sledge park in the West. Prebooking of snowsports tickets recommended due to very limited capacity. Insufficient natural snow for any other terrain.

Limited lift served snowsports on novice terrain at CairnGorm and Glenshee on Sunday. Very strong SE winds have blown some loose snow into the Top Basin on CairnGorm, while closing the Nevis Range Gondola for the day at lunchtime on Sunday.

A rise in temperatures and several hours of rain to all levels as a warm sector sweeps through the SE winds in the early hours of Monday will dampen down high level drifting. Providing that does not bring too much thawing, there is a chance that the Ptarmigan Tow may reopen later Monday or Tuesday as machines continue to push out recent windblown accumulations along snow fences on the Ptarmigan Traverse and around the Top Station, keep an eye on the lift status tomorrow!

The Polar Express trainer tow is scheduled to open on Monday wind permitting, this will give a change of scenery from the base magic carpet and provide some progression in terms of using surface uplift.

Passes for the Daylodge level magic carpet can be bought for 3 hour AM or PM sessions or a flood light early evening session. Day tickets will be available again from Monday, valid on all available uplift from first lift to last.

Glenshee kicked off their 2026 winter season on Saturday with the Dink Dink and beginner rope tow operating. These have a good base of machine made snow and snow making will turn to the Plastic Slope Poma area once the Dink Dink has a full width cover. During the holidays pre-booking lift tickets is advisable due to limited slope capacity at present.

Snowmaking on the beginner area is also underway at the Lecht where the plan is to kick off the season on Boxing Day.

At Glencoe, the Plateau Cafe and the Sledge Park opened for the season on Saturday and are now open daily wind permitting. First chair up at 9am, last chair up at 3.30pm and last chair down at 4pm. White Corries Cafe at the base is open 8am to 4.30pm at present.

The Nevis Range Gondola is also presently open daily (wind permitting) with the last gondola up at 3.45pm and last down at 4pm.

:: England Club Fields

The three Pennine Clubfields all enjoyed a November start to their season, with Allenheads and Weardale notching up the first lift served UK snow turns of the season. There has not yet been sufficient snow at Raise in the Lake District and all clubfields are currently waiting for new snow.

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 7pm in the West at the Glencoe SSC hut at 850m the mid mountain temperature was +2.4°c, the wind at a mean of 12 gusting 25mph. At Base level it was +5.7°c .

The SAIS summit AWS on Aonach Mor was reporting 0.0°c. The Met Office station was reporting a SSE wind at 17 gusting 36mph. It was +4.5°c at 680m at the CIC Hut. At Tulloch Station (237m) the temperature was +6.3°c.

In the East the CairnGorm the Met Office Summit AWS reported +0.3°c with an ESE wind at a mean of 30 gusting 38mph. Aviemore was at +0.8°c at 8pm.

The Met Office Cairnwell AWS (3061ft /934m) reported +2.4°c with an Easterly wind at a mean of 15 gusting 23mph.

:: Mountain Forecast Discussion

A weakening warm sector will cross the Highland Mountains during the early hours of Monday on strong SE winds, rain is expected to all levels which will dampen down recent high level drifting. The precipitation should begin to break up into showers post dawn and tend to fizzle out during the morning.

Around plus 2 to +3°c at Munro Level on Monday, lower cloud bases likely to persist in the East Highlands, but brighter overhead possible in the afternoon near the West Coast. Strong SE winds will continue to be Gale Force on and immediately downslope of the Cairngorm Plateau and through the Nevis Range mountains. Though speeds probably should stay a bit lower than Sunday afternoon at Nevis, but SE winds are particularly unpredictable around Aonach Mor and surrounding mountains!

The balance of numerical weather model output favours high pressure remaining in control of the weather throughout the festive period. Overhead should gradually improve after Monday on the mountains with the potential for inversion conditions to set up across Highland Scotland as high pressure builds in more strongly.

However there remains considerable doubt about day to day detail which will be determined by the exact placement of the high pressure. By 27th Dec we are seeing a spread of 20°c across NWP ensembles for 850hpa height temperatures, even though there is good agreement on high pressure continuing then!

It looks likely as if high pressure will dominate through the end of the year, mixed signals regarding potentially continuing high pressure or very unsettled conditions in early January.

:: Webcams and Weather Stations

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

GLENCOE: Some mountain webcams online and the first updated images will be shortly after 8am. The sledge park camera is online 24/7. Part of the mountain network is offline along with mobile comms following lightning strikes on the hill in the early hours of Thursday, this is affecting several camera views and weather stations.