Best Day of the (“Challenging”) 16-17 Ski Season Today in (Western) Scotland
Best Day of the (“Challenging”) 16-17 Ski Season Today in (Western) Scotland
Published : 23-Mar-2017 09:18
(Above: webcam image from Glencoe this morning)
Today (Thursday, March 23rd) could be the best day of the challenging 2016-17 ski season in Scotland so far.
Although the five Highland ski centres are still unable to fully open there has been fresh snow over the past two days and a period of unsettled weather has ended to deliver a windless day with blue skies and temperatures hovering around freezing.
Conditions are better in the West with Glencoe having the most runs open, 11 of its 20,
"All runs on the mountain have benefitted from the recent snowfall. All opens runs have reasonable cover of skier and machine packed snow. All have some thin and narrow areas and some natural hazards. Spring runs requires a step through upper rock band but nice when in," said a spokesperson for the centre.
Nevis Range has 13 of its runs open, down from a high of 23 of its 32 but still amongst the most in this largely snowless Scottish ski season. It will be staging a 'Scottish Snowfest' on Saturday.
Unfortunately the snow has not made it far enough east to allow The Lecht (which had promising conditions back in November and has been able to open for short periods since then, but is currently closed to snow sports) or for Glenshee to re-open.
Cairngorm, in the centre of the five areas, has 7 of its 38 runs open.
"Nice sunny day up here with very light winds and a temperature of -3.0C. The snow is grooming up well and should provide some nice snowsports, however it is still pretty thin and patchy on the last leg back to the mid station so go with care. Ciste, Ptarmigan, Polar and Train for uplift," said a resort spokesperson.
As is so often the case with Scottish skiing this may be THE day to hit the slopes for a while at the centres that have some terrain open as temperatures re due to rise again towards double digits as we head in to the weekend.
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Also on J2Ski :- Glencoe Snow Forecast