•Glencoe Sledge Park

•England Club Fields

•Mountain Weather

•Mountain Forecast Discussion

•Webcams and Weather Stations

CairnGorm Mountain and Glencoe are open daily for snowsports - weather permitting. A ridge of high pressure on Thursday will give a weather window in what looks like a run of windy days. More snow to come, but high winds may limit or prevent uplift at the weekend.

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

On Monday both CairnGorm and Glencoe had an early end to play, on Wednesday it was a slow start, but the wind did ease up enough to allow those who took the gamble to get some pretty fantastic spring fresh tracks. Snow showers will gradually fade from the West tonight as a ridge of high pressure moves in, the brightest overhead and least wind will be in the morning, so you want to be there for first tracks on Thursday! Cloud will build in from the West into the afternoon, snow showers arriving later.

The West has seen the most new snow with between 16 and 20cm of new snowfall indicated by radar data for Glencoe, in the East CairnGorm has seen around 8-10cm on the upper mountain and around 4-6cm at road level. However it is Aonach Mor which caught the most snow with radar data pointing to 24 to 28cm, matching an SAIS assessment of around 25cm at the Goose timing hut. Needless to say, Nevis Range was quick to say that snowsports would not be possible on Saturday due to the Macavalanche.

Glencoe has only suitable for stronger intermediates and above recently and the Cliffhanger and mid mountain is primarily for access. However iit was hoped from the situation at dusk that either the Plateau Poma or Rannoch Chair would be able to operate on Thursday, while this will mainly be for access to the Cliffhanger via Old Mugs Alley, some of the Plateau runs should be skiable, though thin in places with more typical early season conditions or relatively baseless windblown powdery snow. The upper mountain was in fantastic shape, with regularly topping up freshies for the few who were lapping the Main Basin on Wednesday.

The Plateau Cafe and sledge park are open daily if the chairlift is open. Sledge Park is full length and in great shape. Ski School lessons can also operate on snow on the Plateau.

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.

On CairnGorm the White Lady retains a wide and deep base and was superb with a top of windblown fresh snow on Wednesday. The Traverse is in good shape, as is the Gunbarrel and the top legs of the Zig Zags, but the main bed of Coire Cas itself is very narrow in places, a typical symptom of the prevalence of SE winds early in the season, regularly stripping out the Upper Cas and dumping the snow in the Gunbarrel! Thus the Cas Tow has closed the past few days to provide more space for coming down, but the upper Cas was beginning to fill out a bit more again. The M1 RaceTrack is broken, but skiable via the Horizon Road link to the 105.

Glenshee and the Lecht are currently closed for snowsports. Indeed it is likely Glenshee is now closed for the season, it is much less likely to come back as we approach and move into April, whereas the Lecht can and has come from nothing to open in May! The Lecht has seen slightly less new snow than the lower slopes of CairnGorm so far from this cold spell, but runs are beginning to slowly fill back in. Glenshee has only caught a dusting so far.

At update the A939 Lecht Pass and the A93 Cairnwell Pass were open.

:: 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. The Plateau Cafe is open daily when the Access Chair is running.

:: 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 8pm in the West at the Glencoe SSC hut (850m) the temperature was -4.0°c, unfortunately no wind data is available. At the Top of the Access (671m) it was -1.2°c. At Base level (366m) it was +1.0°c with a light SSE breeze at 4 gusting 12mph.

The SAIS summit AWS on Aonach Mor was reporting -6.5°c. The Met Office station was reporting a SW wind at 50 gusting 88mph. At the CIC Hut (680m) it was -2.°c. At Tulloch Station (237m) the temperature was +1.8°c.

In the East the summit weather stations on CairnGorm reported -6.3°c, with a North Westerly at a mean of 40 gusting 54mph. At Aviemore the temperature at 8pm was +0.9°c.

The Met Office Cairnwell AWS reported -4.8°c with a Northerly at a mean of 29 gusting 54mph.

:: Mountain Forecast Discussion

A transient ridge of high pressure will cross Highland Scotland during daytime Thursday, with snow showers fading from the West overnight as pressure rises. 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. The brightest overhead and lightest winds are expected in the morning, showers are already easing towards the West Coast. During the afternoon cloud will begin to increase and light hill snow may reach the West Highlands during the afternoon. Minus 3°c at Munro Level AM, tending to lift a degree or two later in the day.

Further bands of frontal hill snow look likely to move in through Friday with strong to Gale Force winds, there will be considerable drifting. Around 0 to -1°c at Munro Level. Wind speeds look to be around 30 gusting 45mph, with slightly higher gusts in heavier bursts of snowfall for Western mountains, but around 40 gusting 55 to 60mph likely for the Northern Cairngorms. Wind could affect higher tows at least on CairnGorm, while general wind speeds look just the right side of marginal for Glencoe, higher gusts and poor overhead in heavier snowfall may affect uplift. So Friday looks to be a bit of a gamble, like Wednesday was, and those who took the bet on Wednesday definitely won!

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 the weekend.

On balance severe conditions overnight into Saturday morning look likely, but it should be an improving picture during Saturday, though the best of the mountain weather looks to be during the evening, there is a chance that Saturday afternoon will be OK for lift served riding. Keep a close eye on the forecast detail for Saturday. Both on Friday and Saturday, strengthening spring sunshine will help boost afternoon precipitation intensity due to convection.

For now it looks like the start of British Summer Time on Sunday will be far from spring like, let alone summer like! Unless the forecast detail or timing shifts, uplift at any of the ski areas looks doubtful for Sunday with forecast models ranging from Severe Gales to Hurricane Force winds for the most prone areas.

Monday looks set to continue a fairly stormy theme, while there will be some fluctuation in freezing level, further accumulation of new snowfall is anticipated on at least higher terrain for Highland mountains.

:: 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.