[www.metoffice.gov.uk]

Windy but the met office go for a max of +1C on Aonach Mor and snow to just keeping on falling during the storm, which eases for the weekend.



Neil

Yea Neil its looking good for snowfall a 6hr mild spell max on Thursday then snow again for the rest of the week and a settled forecast for Saturday.

The winds have started to pick up again after a very still day with a lot of snow distribution inevitable.

Hopefully it will load the fence lines and almost certainly load the backs...

Absolutely chucking it down in Fort William again, the hill should have picked up another couple of inches at least since mid afternoon...

Fingers crossed it will open on time or even early webcams of the goose look very good hope they can get the T-bars/buttons on the tows mid week


go slide....



Edited 1 times. Last edit at 21.51hrs Tue 6 Dec 11 by II.

Well the Lochaber hills are looking a bit more wind blown this morning. Hopefully that means the snow is being pushed into the right places rather than just looking pretty. Given how much fell yesterday afternoon/evening and combined with the overnight radar returns there should be another 3-4 inches of fresh up there somewhere.

Looking at the forecast wind speeds not sure Nevis will be able to get much prep work done so maybe a weekend opening won't happen after all, guess we will know soon enough.

Latest GFS charts suggest a bit of freeze thaw over the coming couple of weeks so I would be very surprised if we aren't sliding very soon.

Unquestionably that's right.

A look at the webcam this afternoon shows a massive gain of snow at the foot of Zero Gully at Ben Nevis. The westerly direction of the snows of late has given a very substantial base of snow on NE facing aspects. Early season, but very promising.

We plan to open for skiing this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, 9.30am-3.30pm. Opening will be dependent on the weather over the next 2 days, as well as the weather at the weekend. In terms of lifts, we will be able to open Alpha and the Quad chair, and we may get the Goose t-bar open later in the day. We will update the snow conditions as soon as we have this information. Day tickets will be £20 adults and £13 child. Ski hire will be open at the weekend and the Snowgoose bar will be serving breakfast rolls, soup, filled rolls, baking, coffees etc.

[snowsports.nevisrange.co.uk]

Awesome news that both West coast resorts are going to be open for business! Think Glencoe will be getting my money if I can get up seeing as the A82 is going to be closed.

So seems that if Nevis can get open on Saturday then it will likely just be the middle runs to start off with and the Goose maybe opening later in the afternoon/Sunday. Apparently there is a good depth of snow on the chair/alpha runs, up to the tops of the fences in places. Hopefully any loss of snow in the brief thaw tomorrow will be balanced out with snowfalls due for tomorrow night/Friday so there should be some good conditions on offer.

If the forecast of a 1 degree max comes true it will be fantastic!!!!! wait and see as Alan says.

Ready for the weekend...



Edited 1 times. Last edit at 20.14hrs Wed 7 Dec 11 by Jamizon.

Great news about the Saturday opening - I fancy a treat. Will try and get me & my boy through from Edinburgh. I thought the A82 being shut would scupper my plans but a welcome surprise is that google maps has route via A9 'diversion' at only 2 miles longer than A82. This surprised me - in many previous trips across I have never considered going via A9.

What about in terms of time do you think? I can do Ed - Nevis in about 2h30 via A82 on a good run. About the same via A9/A86? Is the A86 higher elevated & more prone to drifting?

I always go the A9/A86 way to fort william, takes about 2.30/3 hrs I would say from Ed. A86 is not too bad a road, can't say i've had any problems on it , even when it's been snow covered.
I got the mother inlaw staying this weekend so no trips for me!...better be some left next weekend!

2.5/3hrs sounds about right Andy.....

Living in Fort Bill I’ve been to Edinburgh via both routes numerous times over the years. Even in good conditions there is very little to choose between them. A9 is slightly longer but usually a more steady run than the A82. By Saturday morning most of the snow showers should have passed but there will almost certainly be snow on the ground whichever route you took. That being the case I would say allow 3hrs and take it easy, hopefully it’ll be worth the drive.

Hey - for people that know about this better than I do - what do you recon the back corries will be like this weekend - I'm well aware nevis won't open them officially but are they likely to be loaded, and also on the safety front how likely are they to slide? - suppose it all depends on the weather over the next few days - but sure someone on here must have some decent local knowledge / an inkling about it. Usually ski at Glensee so excited to make a rare trip over to the west this weekend