•England Club Fields

•Mountain Weather

•Mountain Forecast Discussion

•Webcams and Weather Stations

The Ski Scotland ALL Area Season Pass is returning for winter 2025/26 and is now on sale through to 30th November (or until sold out). Find out more at: www.snowsportscotland.org/all-area-pass .

Get an early West coast weather check - our Glencoe webcams are updating from around 7.30am currently. Our Leadhills camera in the Lowther Hills is online 24/7 for a weather check in the Southern Uplands.

First up, a heads up, if you do not yet have a ticket for CairnGorm on Sunday, dont turn up hoping for lift served snowsports as day tickets are sold out for the day. Also there will be no equipment hire available at CairnGorm this weekend, hire off site. It is also likely that the Cas Carparks will fill up as on Saturday, so tourers arriving later may need to park in the Ciste and start from there. The Ski Road is now a clearway and the Highland Council are ticketing vehicles parked on what was the roadside parking between the Link Road and the main entrance to the Cas Carpark.

Now to the snowsports and CairnGorm clocked up the first full day of the lift served Scottish Season on Friday with Top to Mid Station riding on offer on CairnGorm via the funicular, plus the Polar Express trainer tow for novices in the Top Basin. The Ciste Tow was expected to open and it did, but with significant overnight drifting on the upper mountain the Ptarmigan Tow also made its season debut.

The best lift served conditions are in the Top Basin, with the Ptarmigan Bowl and Ciste Fairway giving good riding on machine groomed snow. However beyond the groomers at this height and above looks promising, but a breakable crust has developed!

Heading down into Coire Cas the Traverse is good, but below here the pisted route was getting thin, worn and gritty in places by late on Saturday, particularly so on the Zig Zags. There are better lines available where there has been some drifting which is consolidating.

Given the overnight forecast some fresh snow is expected in the Top Basin once the band of precipitation reaches, but there is likely to be a slight loss of snow towards at least the lower end of the middle slopes. A bit of exploring here might be required to find the best lines and probably wont be the official route due to it following the gravel haul road. At dusk on Saturday it was still possible for advanced skiers / boarders to make it down the Carpark Run, but again some snow loss is possible here overnight.

With some fresh snow possible for the Top Basin, prospects look good for some midweek sliding to start the week with snow showers on Monday giving way to brighter spells and a ridge of high pressure for Tuesday. No tickets are currently on sale and a decision on mid-week snowsports will be taking during Sunday, but if the verdict is to open, then Monday or Tuesday are the days, as strong winds and milder temperatures move in Wednesday.

The Lecht has seen runs begin to fill in, but the heaviest falls of snow in Aberdeenshire narrowly missed the ski area, so there was not quite sufficient snow to open anything this weekend. Both the A939 Lecht Pass and A93 Cairnwell Pass were open at update.

Over in the West Glencoe and Nevis have looked seasonal with fresh snow in the sunshine over the past few days, but alas not really any further fresh snow over the past few days.

The Access Chairlift is currently undergoing annual maintenance following the fitting of the replacement chair carriers, so whoever skinned to the top put in a good shift, around a 5km skin/carry! It is currently anticipated that the Glencoe Access Chair will reopen on Saturday 29th November. The Nevis Range Gondola is open daily at present.

:: England Club Fields

Wednesday saw the first UK lift served turns on outdoor snow, with a gorgeous day with 10cm of fresh snow which stayed crisp through the day with a high of -1°c at Allenheads, while Weardale got the F1 Tow running too with a thin but skiable cover.

These were joined by Yad Moss on Thursday, but with a thin cover and ground not fully frozen Yad Moss did not open on Friday.

With Allenheads slope failing a first light inspection with an accelerating thaw on Saturday morning, it is back to waiting for the next cold snap across the club fields.

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 at 850m the mid mountain temperature was +1.5°c, with a SW wind at 10 gusting 20mph. At the base it was +3.8°c.

The SAIS summit AWS on Aonach Mor was reporting -0.2°c. The Met Office station was reporting a SSW wind at 14 gusting 22mph. The Tower 17 AWS on the Gondola was reporting a WSW wind at 6 gusting to 14mph with a temperature of +3.5°c. At Tulloch Station (237m) the temperature was +4.5°c.

In the East the CairnGorm the Met Office Summit AWS reported -1°c with a Westerly at 12 gusting 22mph. Aviemore was at +2.3°c at 6pm.

The Cairnwell AWS (3061ft /934m) reported a SW wind at a mean of 11 gusting 18 mph.

:: Mountain Forecast Discussion

Overnight into the early part of Sunday the wind will back SE and strengthen for a time as a band of frontal precipitation pushes up from the South, bringing mountain snowfall. Munro level temperatures around 0 to 1°c for a time, lowering -1 to -2°c. Some uncertainty on how quickly initial showers will reach the Northern Cairngorms, but if they do during the SE winds then the higher plateau areas will see significant drifting on the SE winds.

Post dawn winds will back further to East or ENE over Highland Scotland, speeds most likely moderate around 15 gusting 20 to 25mph, but risk stronger in the Northern Highlands. Towards the South and West Highlands wind may fall light and variable for a period. The weakening front will continue to give high level snow through the morning, but will ease to light showers later tending to become confined towards the East / NE Highlands. Better change of brighter skies likely reserved for hills near the West Coast later on Sunday. Around 0 to -1°c at Munro Level by day on Sunday with a poorly defined freezing level with low lapse rates.

Cooler air will again push southwards as the wind turns northerly once more on Monday, this bringing showers into windward hills exposed to the sea. Exact wind direction will determine where will catch the most of these showers. Brighter towards the South of the West Highlands. Minus 1 to -2°c at Munro Level, perhaps lowering -3°c from the North later.

A transient ridge looks to give a widely fine crisp mountain day on Tuesday, with extensive sunshine widespread across the Highland mountains, though some mist may form and linger in the glens. Around -1 to -2°c at Munro Level with a light and variable wind, becoming moderate Westerly during the afternoon, with gusts to 25mph towards dusk.

Make the most of Tuesday for mountain activities, as a wild, milder and possibly wet day beckons on Wednesday. The freezing level will rise to slightly above the higher tops with Southerly wind rising to around 40 to 50mph with gusts to 65 mph widely at Munro Level, with 50 gusting 80 mph plus for the Northern Cairngorms and downslope of the plateau areas.

There remains quite a considerable spread in forecast temperatures by later in the week, the Met Office favours a dry but fairly mild and breezy Thursday away from Western Coastal hills which may catch drizzly rain, but the GFS model has it much milder, windier and wetter.

The ensembles currently point towards an unsettled period thereafter with some thaw/freeze cycling on higher Scottish mountains. However it is noted, the divide between colder and milder air is often close to Northern Scotland, so small changes in overall synoptics could tilt the balance decisively in favour of mostly or all rain vs mostly snow at mountain level.

:: Webcams and Weather Stations

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

GLENCOE: All mountain webcams online and the first updated images will be around 7.30am. There will be some interruptions to webcams during November due to pre season maintenance and preparation work. Wind speed is available from base and mid mountain. Storm Amy destroyed the Summit AWS and a replacement is in the works.