Thanks to Al Todd and Ron Walker for these photos from CairnGorm on Sunday after a ferocious overnight storm which saw mean wind speeds reach 110mph before data was lost at the Summit AWS due to icing!

The heaviest snowfalls happened in a fairly narrow band through the Central Highlands to the South of CairnGorm and north of Drumocther. However with the ferocious wind out of the SE quadrant snow from a fairly wide area was blasted into Coire na Ciste and the Ciste Gully which was already complete to near the old boardwalk location is now complete down to slightly below the 2000ft contour below the former Aonach Poma.

For those willing to do the leg work, Monday looks good for hitting the Ciste Gully as a largely dry day with bright or sunny spells and a moderate SE wind - though that is likely to pick up later. If going touring on Monday keep in mind the SAIS are predicting a considerable avalanche risk above 950m on NW through NE aspects. Unfortunately very stormy and milder again by Tuesday morning.

In terms of terrain within the lift served Scottish areas, the Ciste Gully is miles ahead of anything else but unfortunately with no available uplift to even assist with access while the Funicular remains out of service pending engineering reports.

We understand that these reports are due to be received by HIE on Monday and will in the first instance be considered by bridge engineers from the Highland Council. The original timetable had a review period after initial discussions, thus it does look as if with the festive season looming that it could be into January before we find out what the situation with the Funicular is.