•Lift Ticket Info

•England Club Fields

•Mountain Weather

•Mountain Forecast Discussion

•Webcams and Weather Stations

Keep a close eye on forecasts if planning a trip this week. SE winds are set to progressively strengthen as the week goes on, accompanied by increasing potential for heavier snowfall for upland areas exposed to onshore wind - but freezing level will fluctuate mid-week before lowering to below the lower slopes by end of the week.

If you have been out on slopes please send photos to the email at the foot of this page!

Monday afternoon saw visibility widely improve, before the low cloud begun to come back in and Tuesday looks like it could be a repeat, with a chance of bright or sunny spells in the afternoon. However, wind speeds will edge up from Monday and could affect higher / more exposed tows. Wind speeds will be highest on North to West downslopes of plateau areas, that means CairnGorm is likely to see the highest wind speeds throughout this week of the snowsports areas. While the Lecht will not see the speeds the Cairngorm Plateau will, nonetheless SE winds can funnel through the Lecht Pass and may affect main run lifts later in the week. Overall from a wind perspective, Glenshee and Glencoe usually fare better in wind from the SE quadrant.

The Met Office have issued a yellow warning for rain spanning three days from Wednesday through Friday covering a swath of the East and SE Highlands. Tuesday and Wednesday look like seeing a wintry mix as the freezing level fluctuates, but higher terrain on CairnGorm should probably see snowfall throughout. Later in the week as the snow level drops below the lower slopes, heavy snowfall and drifting will start to affect the East Coast access roads. So keep abreast of the developing weather situation.

Higher terrain at Glencoe and CairnGorm is giving the best riding at present, where there is still reasonably fresh snow, with some wind redistributed snow topping things up. Elsewhere, a combination of thaw/freeze, heavy weekend ski traffic on fairly thin snow in places, plus on CairnGorm the effect of the strong downslope SE wind causing scouring in places has lead to increasingly hardpacked conditions. There may be some softening as the day goes on at lowest levels, but on Monday the lower slopes and where affected by scouring were becoming particularly icy on CairnGorm.

The Lecht has nearly all main runs complete and they are full width between the fences with machine groomed snow, the will start firmer on Tuesday, but given the FL is set to edge above the top of the Lecht, will hopefully loosen up to spring snow. A couple of thinner / narrower bits on links to/from the Eagle area, but generally the fenced runs are in good shape. The nursery slopes by the magic carpets have good cover thanks to the snow making.

CairnGorm is able to offer top to Daylodge riding giving 1720ft of vertical on the Cas side and ski tourer tickets are now available from the ticket office, for 2 surface uplifts. A combination of some snow loss from the bottom of the track and expected increasing SE cross winds mean the Daylodge Poma is not expected to operate in the coming days. The top tows will be marginal and exact wind direction may determine whether they can go on Tuesday. It is unlikely the upper mountain or funicular will be able to run Wed / Thu and possibly Friday unless forecasts are wrong. As such CairnGorm have suspended ticket sales for Wed and Thu and if the ski area opens at all tickets will be sold from the ticket office only.

After the big storm cycle the previous 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. At present only OverYonder is currently open to the WWP.

Over in the West the visibility was much better on Monday afternoon at Glencoe, where the upper Main Basin and Happy Valley are giving the best turns! However, Glencoe is able to offer the full on mountain vertical of 1400f, but the bottom quarter of the Plateau runs are patchy. Rankins Return is the best route to return to the Access Chair (treat as blue not green), Old Mugs Alley off the Coire Pollach Tow is the best option for early intermediates. Mid mountain is really only for access and Mugs Alley is NOT suitable for green run skiers / riders!

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. Sledgers keep in mind, the Access Chair will be busier at the end of the day with snowsports underway.

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.

:: Lift Ticket Info

Weekend lift tickets may again sell out for the last weekend in January. During the week it is likely that ticket availability will be OK on the day. Note that due to the strength of forecast SE winds, CairnGorm have suspended online ticket sales for Wednesday and Thursday. As the FL slowly lowers and SE wind speeds increase further, there is an increasing risk of these affecting uplift operations at CairnGorm (and potentially road access later in the week).

:: England Club Fields

All club fields are waiting for new snow to arrive.

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 8pm in the West at the Glencoe SSC hut at 850m the mid mountain temperature was -1.5°c, wind at 13 gusting 21mph. At the Top of the Access (671m) it was -0.1°c. At Base level (366m) it was +1.8°c.

The SAIS summit AWS on Aonach Mor was reporting -3.1°c. The Met Office station was reporting a South wind at 34 gusting 40mph. At the CIC Hut (680m) it was +1.2°c. At Tulloch Station (237m) the temperature was +4.0°c.

In the East the CairnGorm Met Office Summit AWS reported -5.1°c with a South Easterly at a 24 gusting 35mph. At Aviemore the temperature at 8pm was +0.1°c.

The Met Office Cairnwell AWS (3061ft /934m) reported -1.0°c with a South wind at a mean of 14 gusting 25mph.

:: Mountain Forecast Discussion

Tuesday looks like being similar to Monday for the West, but with the wind speeds edging up a bit, low cloud to start, should lift and break with some brighter or even sunny spells in the afternoon. In the Cairngorms some wintry showers, falling as snow on the upper slopes , but probably sleet at least for a time at the Lecht and lower areas of Glenshee and CairnGorm, these will tend to fade away, and there may be some brighter interludes, before the strengthening wind sees a storm cap spill over the plateau areas into the Northern Cairngorms.

On Tuesday Munro Level temperature will lift to be around +1°c towards the North, but around +2°c towards the S / SE Highlands. SE wind around 20 to 30 gusting 45mph, but gusts to 60mph on and downslope of the Cairngorm Plateau and through the Nevis Range mountains. Towards dusk wind speeds will increase steadily and be Severe Gale Force with gusts to 75 to 80mph on the Cairngorm Plateau and surrounding downslopes by or soon after dusk on Tuesday.

There is potential for considerable accumulations of snow at height on hills exposed to onshore SE to ESE wind through the Met Office yellow rain warning which covers Wed through Friday, but how much snow the ski areas get will depend on exact FL, a slight change in the wrong direction could lift the snow level and actually do quite a bit of damage to the base. This is rather a high risk / high reward scenario, at least to start with!

To underline that point the GFS ensembles have a 6°c spread for the Central Highlands in the early hours of Thursday! Glencoe is just outside the warning area, but on some of the forecast model runs is catching nearly as much precipitation as Glenshee. Upwards of half a metre of snow is possible in some areas by the weekend, accompanied by SE winds that will reach Storm Force on higher mountains / plateau areas. It not being as cold as during the Northerly outbreak earlier in January, should be a good thing for the ski areas providing the FL is the right side of marginal, as the snow will be slightly damper and more likely to stick despite the strong winds.

There is a good census on the high winds for Wed and Thursday which will restrict, or perhaps for some areas prevent uplift, but by Friday forecasts have a bit more spread. Some model output this afternoon / evening has a further ramp up of wind during Friday / Saturday, while other output sees a considerable reduction in wind speed by Saturday.
As a general rule SE winds affect Glencoe and Glenshee the least, but there are limits!

In the medium term if the SE to ESE flow is sustained, some of the accumulated precipitation totals are in excess of 150mm of rain equivalent by the middle of next week. For the sake of not just the ski areas, but those downstream of the Eastern Cairngorms and Angus Hills, pray for snow!

Colder air is looking likely to arrive on SE to East winds towards the end of the week and once the temperature at Munro Level drops below -2°c, there is an increasing potential for issues on the East Coast access roads, given potentially moderate to heavy snowfall in the continuing strong SE to ESE winds.

:: 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 shortly after 7am, other cams come on by 8am. The mid mountain weather station wind direction is not working, other data valid.