Scottish Ski & Winter Activity Report // The General Situation for CairnGorm, Glenshee, Lecht, Nevis Range & Glencoe // Winterhighland

The weather didn't quite read the forecast script on Wednesday, the chance of a light snow flurry became frequent beefy snow showers with some hail thrown in during the heavier ones. However when your riding powder and laying down fresh tracks on CairnGorm Mountain the 16th May, you can't really complain too much!

What's more is Thursday 17th May is now setting up as the third consecutive mid May powder day on CairnGorm Mountain. Prior to dusk around 10pm the webcams at the SSC Hut showed around 2 inches of fresh had fallen this evening - radar suggests 3 further up and the NMM mesoscale model suggests another 2-3inches could be possible overnight in favoured locations. Just where the heaviest overnight falls will land is a bit unpredictable, but certainly the radar indicates a good deal of precipitation upwind of CairnGorm at 10pm. The Summit temperature is -3.4°c and it's sitting at 0°c at the Mid Station at 2500ft with a dew point of -1°c, which indicates the snow should be dry and powdery at all levels with a base. Reports in the past couple of hours confirm the snow is falling to around Sugar Bowl level well below the Daylodge.

The Top Basin is in fantastic condition with ride anywhere cover across the Ptarmigan Bowl and Ptarmigan Ridge which has some great moderate off-piste powder, don't be put of the slightly wind scoured crest of the ridge, once you drop in things turned sweet quickly on Wednesday and with the Summit AWS indication a variable wind of around 3 to 4mph it's possible the whole ridge will have some fresh turns in the morning.

If your desperate to see what the weather has brought overnight, our mid mountain webcams on CairnGorm Mountain start updating at first light just after 4am. The SSC balcony was clear of snow at close of lifts on Wednesday evening. The upper reaches of the East Lady and the diagonal fall lines between the M1/Traverse split and the M1 were also holding freshies, with the later untouched till lunchtime on Wednesday.

While the Top Basin has great riding for novices and early intermediates up, with the reopening of the Coronation Wall there is now a selection of green, blue, red and black graded terrain available meaning there is some quite astounding sport on offer for all ability levels as we head into the second half of May. Just beware of potential for some rocks just covered by the fresh snow!

While some walking is required to regain both the Funicular and M1 Poma, (the shortest hoof is via Chicken Gully and the Zig Zag crossover, then a hop over the Gumbarrel burn and walk through the M1 queuing area), it was worth every step of the hoof on Wednesday for some beautiful fresh snow even on the mid mountain.

The mountain retains near blanket cover above 3000ft with extensive cover stretching down to around 2800ft, below here the cover does thin and narrow down. The M1 Poma uptrack had extensive work with the Piste Bashers on Wednesday and it's scheduled Thursday, will mean a shorter hoof and slightly faster laps if your legs can take it.

Glencoe also has a covering of fresh up top and though there is not sufficient snow to run the Top T-bar, the top 500ft of the upper mountain has great snow, with about 700ft of vertical possible for those willing to hike from the top of the Access Chair.

Be sure to check out the Pix at the Slopes from the past couple of days for a detailed reports and lots of pictures.

End of daily SAIS reports for the season does not mean the end of Avalanche potential - stay safe! Next SAIS forecast due Fri 18th for the weekend.

:: Terrain Park Report

The Ptarmigan Terrain park situated on the Ciste Fairway, currently features a technical line with narrower rails for more advanced riders and a parallel more mellow line with the boxes. There is a flat down box, short flat box, then dancefloor box or 2 narrow rails depending on line. Below is a sizeable kicker and a new wide 10m long rail. The park received some work to tidy it up on Wednesday morning.

There is a mini rider cross course left of the Ptarmigan Traverse fence, while mid-mountain the Nessie Rollers are back on the Fiacaill Traverse.

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:: Mountain Biking

Glencoe black downhill is closed this week for preperation work ahead of the SDA race weekend on the 19th/20th, check with Glencoe for re-opening to the public. The Access Chairlift is open daily (wind permitting).

Both Nevis Range's orange downhill and the Nevis Red Route are now open daily for the summer season with gondola uplift, wind permitting. Check the Nevis Report for updates.

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:: Stay up to date on the go...

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If you've got an iPhone, get the Winterhighland App from the App Store, it's the fastest way to get updates with the least bandwidth!

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:: Mountain Weather Outlook

Moderate Easterly winds will ease later Thursday with fairly steady but mostly light snow fall widespread across the mountains of Highland Scotland. FL around 2500ft with -1°c projected at Munro Level. SE 10 to 20mph towards the West, aroound 15 to 30mph in the East.

A very similar day on Friday with fairly steady light snow fall, though the wind will moderate in the Northern Cairngorms to 10 to 15 maybe gusting 20mph Easterly, while slightly fresher further South in the Highlands. FL around Munro Level.

While a ridge of high pressure tries to build down over the weekend and gradually settle things down through the weekend, light snow looks to continue in the Cairngorms, but with more bright or sunny spells between showers further West as the light to moderate Easterly continues. FL back down to 2500ft in the East, sticking to about Munro Level out West.

By Sunday the high pressure should be exerting more influence over Highland Scotland and a largely fine day with some bright or sunny spells expected. FL sitting between Munro Level and higher summits. Light to moderate ENE wind.

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:: Ski Area Contact Numbers & Websites

Glencoe: 01855 851226 www.glencoemountain.co.uk
Nevis Range: 01397 705825 www.nevisrange.co.uk
Lecht: 01975 651440 www.lecht.co.uk
CairnGorm: 01479 861261 www.cairngormmountain.co.uk
Glenshee: 013397 41320 www.ski-glenshee.co.uk

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:: Winterhighland Webcams & Automatic Weather Stations

We've refreshed our Webcam pages, so live weather from relevant stations is displayed on each page along with operational Status and information about any outages.

CairnGorm SSC: www.winterhighland.info/cams/cairngorm-mountain
Mountain Spirit, Aviemore: www.winterhighland.info/cams/aviemore
Glencoe Cams: www.winterhighland.info/cams/glencoe
Loch Morlich: www.winterhighland.info/cams/cairngorm-mountain/morlich.php

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