General Situation // Scottish Ski & Winter Activity Report // Winterhighland

With CairnGorm summit back below freezing the recent inversion conditions have now broken down and over the coming days both temperature and pressure will gradually fall.

Until Thursday rather nondescript, but benign weather is expected to continue, there will be no immediate change in the very limited snowsports offering. That will remain restricted to the 2 magic carpet nursery slopes respectively at the Lecht and CairnGorm at car park level, with the only limited progression terrain being the former Plastic Slope run at Glenshee, which remains complete with machine made snow.

Colder conditions mean improving cover on the machine made snow areas with new machine made snow now adding to the base, rather than fighting the thaw. So decent conditions for learners for the next few days.

The deep cold sinking into the NE US over the coming days will fire up the jet stream, and towards the end of the week a series of potentially notably deep Atlantic lows will barrel towards us. A stormy end of January is on the cards, but just how stormy and the potential snowfall for the mountains remains uncertain. Day to day detail continues to chop and change, with relatively small tweaks to the track of the depressions having a big impact on peak wind speeds and potential snow accumulation.

However big winter storms are required, as aside from some main runs at the Lecht which retain something of a base away from the top, we are for all intents and purposes starting from scratch with only scattered small patches of snow within the other snowsports areas. Not even sufficient snow remaining for the SAIS to dig avalanche test pits!

In the West the only lift served sliding continues to be the sledging at Glencoe, at the Sledge Park at the Plateau Cafe served by a new magic carpet and being kept in decent shape by snow making.

The Plateau Cafe will be open (providing the Access Chair is open), last orders at 3pm. The Access Chair is open from 9am with the last chair up at 3.45pm and last chair down at 4pm, it is recommended to arrive by 2pm if going sledging to get a decent amount of time up the hill.

Note that Nevis Range is closed until the February half term.

:: Warren Millers SEVENTY FIVE

The 75th Warren Miller snowsports film is on tour through mid February 2025 and gets back on the road again in early January. Next up for our shows is Kendal on Thursday 23rd January.

Through mid January there are an additional five screenings at the Light Cinemas across Northern England.

There are further Scottish screenings in Aberdeen, Boat of Garten and Perth. Get tickets NOW: www.warrenmiller.co.uk .

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:: CairnGorm Funicular Update

Late on Christmas Eve HIE and CML slipped out word that the CairnGorm Funicular will remain out of service until further notice after additional issues have been discovered while contractor Balfour Beatty demobilised from the work on the scarf joints and beam bracing! Contractors will return to site in January to carry out further assessments of the funicular to determine further works.

Thus at present as conditions permit, access to the Top Basin will require use of either the M1 or West Wall Pomas, the two most challenging surface lifts on CairnGorm. Access to them will be dependent on lower level snow or on foot to the M1 Poma. Thus while CairnGorm has the beginner area at the Daylodge level there will be a lack of progression terrain even if other parts of the mountain open up.

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:: England Club Fields

After a spell of very good conditions early in January, all the club fields are back to waiting for snow.

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/ .

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:: Mountain Weather

At 7pm in the West at the base of Glencoe at 366m the temperature was +3.6°c with a flat calm.

The SAIS AWS at the top of the Summit Tow was reporting -0.8°c on Aonach Mor. The Met Office Summit Run AWS at (1130m) remains offline. The Tower 17 AWS on the Gondola was reporting the lightest ENE breeze at 0 gusting 3mph. At Tulloch Station (237m) the temperature was +4.7°c.

In the East the CairnGorm the Met Office Summit AWS (4084ft/1245m) was reporting a temperature of -2.1°c, a drop of 10°c from yesterday evening under inversion conditions. No wind speed data is available. Aviemore was at +0.4°c.

The Cairnwell AWS reported -0.8°c (3061ft /934m), with a W wind at a mean of 19 gusting 24mph.

Our webcams at Glencoe update from around 8am currently, the Leadhills webcam in the Borders updates 24/7.

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:: Mountain Forecast Discussion

General pattern of benign conditions with moderate S to SW winds will continue into the first part of next week, but now the inversion has broken down, the higher tops are expected to be around or below freezing. The wind gradually swinging to the SE or E mid-week. That will change which mountain areas see the best of the brightness and could bring some snow flurries/grains into the Southern Cairngorms. Around +1 to +2°c at Munro Level on Monday early afternoon, but generally around -2 to -3°c at Munro Level by Thursday lunchtime.

It now looks likely Thursday will be the last day of the current rather benign and non descript spell of weather. Even if Friday starts off with fairly light to moderate winds, Severe Gales or Storm Force winds will develop during the day and there is a risk that mountain gales will return during Thursday.

The exact trajectory and angle of attack of the low pressure systems, which look like forming a train of depressions barreling in from the West or SW will determine just how stormy it gets for Highland Scotland, and the balance of the precipitation that falls as snow in the freeze part of what could be repeated freeze/thaw cycling.

Ideally we want the triple point of the depressions to pass close to the ski areas to maximise precipitation, while minimising exposure to the warm sectors! What we do not want to see is the pressure / geopotential heights rising to the SE of England and deflecting the storm systems on a more Northerly track. While there is not going to be much happening on the hills for the next 3 or 4 days, there is a lot to look out for in the forecasts as this week goes on!

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:: Webcams and Weather Stations

Lowther Hill: Leadhills webcam online 24/7. Lowther Hill Summit webcam withdrawn due to removal of club infrastructure from the hill.

GLENCOE: All webcams online and the first updated images will be from around 8am. Base AWS online. The summit weather station was damaged by nearby lightning and is out of service.

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