•Glencoe Sledge Park

•England Club Fields

•Mountain Weather

•Mountain Forecast Discussion

•Webcams and Weather Stations

CairnGorm and Glencoe have the most extensive terrain, the main action at Glenshee is on Meall Odhar. After over 20cm of snowfall late last week all Plateau lifts reopened at Glencoe on Saturday! Get an early West Coast weather check - first images from Glencoe cams before 6am currently.

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

Saturday was the best day of the weekend weather wise, Sunday though may bring even more freshies for Glencoe, but there is a bit of a question about wind. The strongest wind speeds will be around or post dawn, but speeds should ease back somewhat, but it will be more blustery than Saturday and with chairlifts needed to access the best available terrain at Glencoe and Glenshee, there is a risk wind could limit the options. Check AM updates, but do not abandon plans purely on post dawn wind speeds as they may not be reflective of what daytime Sunday will bring (see weather discussion below).

Further snow showers will come into the West this evening and these will pick up in frequency and intensity ahead of frontal precipitation arriving through the early hours of Sunday.

The West has seen by far the most snowfall since temperatures mid mountain fell back below 0°c Thursday lunchtime, with Glencoe seeing somewhere between 22 and 26cm of new snowfall. The Main Basin and Happy Valley were offering superb surface conditions with machine packed powdery corduroy to start of Saturday, while the new drifting snow enabled Glencoe to reopen all the Plateau lifts on Saturday! With all lifts operating other than the Wall T-bar there were negligible queues, none at all on the Plateau and just occasionally brief waits at the top tows. Though only the Cliffhanger is running mid mountain, this area was seeing less traffic with people either riding the upper mountain or the Plateau, while a few doing full laps only hitting the Cliffy intermittently, so no real bottleneck at the Cliffhanger.

The Plateau area is mostly baseless, so more classic early season than spring conditions here with some thin / narrow areas, but easy going surface conditions and some fun wind lips on Old Mugs Alley. What this all means is there is a selection of green runs now available, but maybe treated as easier blues than green.

CairnGorm has seen less new snow (around 5 to 8cm) but with significant drifting things are freshening up on the White Lady and Coire Cas, with the Top Basin in great shape. Good top to mid station riding for all ability levels with a mix of green, blue and red graded terrain available directly from the Funicular for those wishing to avoid surface uplift! Gusty winds on Sunday could affect the top tows though,

For more advanced riders both Glencoe and CairnGorm have plenty to enjoy,, Glenshee is now limited to mainly Meall Odhar. With a return of blustery winds on Sunday, Glenshee are warning there is a risk uplift will not open on Sunday as access to Meall Odhar is dependent on the Sunnyside Chair. On the other side of the A93 the Cairnwell Chair was giving access to the Tiger and Thunder Bowl, but strictly for experts!

While there is still fairly extensive snow on Western aspects of Glas Maol and Meall Odhar, extensive work was required to rebuild uptracks to get the Caenlochan going for Saturday and Tom Dearg for return out of the middle valley and from the Home Run. Uplift other than the Caenlochan Poma is primarily for access, so only suitable for strong intermediates and above as the Caenlochan Poma runs up red graded terrain on Meall Odhar, some walking is required to get back to the Caenlochan Poma from Tom Dearg if lapping the Home Run.

Nevis Range is closed for lift served snowsports, however the SAIS reported great skiing on the Summit and Goose Gully on Friday for those prepared to put in the leg work.

Glenshee has no beginner terrain available. Weather permitting, CairnGorm is the best option for novices and snowplough turners, but as the suitable terrain is now limited to the Top Basin, that makes it more weather dependent! For slightly more confident snowplough turners the green terrain on the Plateau at Glencoe is back in play and will be less exposed than the Top Basin at CairnGorm, but will see more / heavier snowfall on Sunday.

:: 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 2pm 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 11.30am. Last chair down scheduled for 4pm.

:: 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 -0.7°c, with the wind at 14 gusting 28mph. At the Top of the Access (671m) it was +0.6°c. At Base level (366m) it was +2.0°c.

The SAIS summit AWS on Aonach Mor was reporting -3.5°c. The Met Office station was reporting a SW wind at 15 gusting 30mph. At the CIC Hut (680m) it was -1.0°c. At Tulloch Station (237m) the temperature was +3.0°c.

In the East the summit weather stations on CairnGorm reported -3.8°c, with a Westerly at a mean of 32 gusting 45mph. At Aviemore the temperature at 6pm was +3.4°c.

The Met Office Cairnwell AWS reported -1.9°c with a SouthWesterly at a mean of 14 gusting 21mph.

:: Mountain Forecast Discussion

Snow showers will pick up ahead of frontal precipitation reaching Western mountains during the early hours of Sunday. Through the dawn period the occluding warm sector of a frontal system is due to pass through, if this has already occluded out, wind speeds will not be less severe post dawn, but if the triple point passes to the North of the ski areas, things are expected to be pretty rowdy for a spell as the cold front passes through. Potentially could see a period with mean wind speeds up to 60mph post dawn.

If there is exposure to the warm sector the freezing level is likely to briefly lift to around the higher Munros before falling back abruptly with the cold front, if the fronts have already occluded the freezing level will rise a bit less, but still fall back to give a daytime temperature of around -2°c at Munro Level. Wind from mid morning should be Westerly around 30 gusting 45 to 50mph at Munro Level, risk some higher gusts around bigger convective shower cells and through the morning on and around the Cairngorm Plateau.

In the East there should be brighter or sunny spells between snow showers, and these should tend to ease as the day goes on, perhaps few Eastern Cairngorms after the back edge of the front clears. In the West shower frequency and intensity will remain higher, with clusters of showers merging into some longer spells of mountain snow, with periods ofwhiteout in the strong to Gale Westerly.

Monday continues in a similar theme to Sunday, though cloud cover will probably be more widespread in the East than Sunday. Around -1°c at Munro Level, lowering -2°c in heavier bursts of snow, but then the freezing level tends to rise to or above the summits towards or post dusk. Initially Westerly wind will back SW, with similar speeds to Sunday.

Currently expecting a very poor mountain day on Tuesday with Severe Gale or Storm Force SW wind, a wintry mix will see early rain to all levels, before a slight drop in temperature brings high level snow showers for the afternoon / evening.

Early indications are for a decent day on Wednesday with winds easing back substantially as pressure begins to rise. Decent sunny spells developing, with zero to -1°c at Munro Level.

High pressure then looks to be in control centered just to the North of or over Highland Scotland as Northern Blocking becomes established, expect bluebird days to end the week above any potential inversion mist, but with a strengthening spring sun, even where that occurs it should tend to burn off / break up by day. Night frosts possible in the glens, but temp may stay above freezing overnight on the tops. Should be some superb spring snow riding that gets better day by day on CairnGorm and Glencoe, hopefully at Glenshee too if links to Meall Odhar hold up through the first part of the week.

:: 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.