As we approach winter, I thought we'd get this thread up and running again where we can put any observations, webcams, forecasts etc. There are quite a few of us on here who walk/climb/ski/board etc and it's a good way to see what's going on......... Here for starters is what it's like on Cairngorm - http://www.winterhighland.info/testcam/mid.jpeg apologies for lack of pic but if others can put up the image that'd be great. http://www.cairngormmountain.co.uk/ - they are currently forecasting blizzards for tomorrow ;-) :-) you'll need to cut and paste sorry ! Cheers Tim

There you go, Tim

Thanks Matty :-) these iPhones just aren't up to the job lol ;-)

Link should be live now as well.   

http://www.cairngormmountain.co.uk/

Good Plan.

My crampons are sharpened and my winter boots and axe are all at base ready to go... 

 

There was a touch of snow ontop of the Lakeland Fells yesterday, but only the very tops above 3100ft-  Helvellyn etc

 

Heavy snow has fallen on the hills in the highlands in the last few days. So much so that there is likely to be skiing in the Cairngorms this weekend, weather permitting. It will also be the lasting snow on the higher tops so for any snow geeks out there it looks as if 6 snow patches made it through this year from last years snows [since 2006 in fact].

Three on Ben Nevis, two on Braeriach and one on Aonach Beag.

First decent snowfall in the Lakes last night  I was quite surprised and certainly makes a change from the endless rain this month.

Crinkle Crags this morning.

 

Hi Pike,

Yes, it was a lovely day in the Lakes District today.

We went Christmas shopping to Hayes Garden Centre and left Penrith in a gloomy fog and 1c temperature but by the time we got to Grasemere the sun was shinning and it was a wonderful day, Ambelside was sunny and cold at 4c but visibility was excellent with snow capped peaks.

With very few tourist around, today was the Lake District at its best.

Andy

CairnGorm Mountain opened for skiing on Sat with both the Ciste and Ptarmigan T-bars on. Pretty deep cover on the Ciste Fairway run, can tell it was windy when it snowed as it's really piled up there between the snow fences. Great to be back on the snow before December is in.

Beautiful picture there Pike.

I was over in Inverness yesterday, hoped to get a few snaps of the moutains round here. But the low cloud base (300m all day) and early evenings (dark before 4) all conspired to prevent any pictures at all. Never mind.

It certainly felt like winter in the hills today. I was out for the best part of the two hours before midday with a couple of other runners and a dog for a 12 mile outing that took us to a local summit just east of Moffat at only around 650 metres. As we traversed the ridge to drop down to the Southern Upland Way we had to fight being lifted off our feet and thrown into the void by the storm force winds. I was also reminded that shorts weren't a great idea as heavy horizontal snow was being driven into my bare legs and I started to get that pre hypothermic sensation of all body numbness but I knew that stopping to fish out and fit a leg layer from my pack would have been more dangerous than just getting down off the top. It was a timely warning though that even with the heat of intense exercise, balaclava, windproof and thermal upper body cover, the tops are ready and waiting to be vicious places if you're not properly clothed for them.

Excellent snow fall on the 'gorm webcams, snow on the "beach" at loch morlich too, even a dusting in aviemore :-D been steadily snowing on tops for a while now :-)

The snow line is visible all around at about 700 metres so I couldn't resist getting up onto the local hills today.

Rime ice at the side of Loch Skeen

Piles of fluffy snow on beds of frozen slush.

White Coomb's summit cairn.

View into Carrifran glen.

Can't blame you for going there! amazing!

Jane:

Can't blame you for going there! amazing!

Lovely pics from the Southern Uplands.

Jane - I'm glad you had a nice time on Skye in October. I saw you're reply to me earlier. The weather up here is fickle so there are no guarantees, but you should try coming up some time in winter. It's a wee bit of a risk, you could end up with a week of dross rain or drizzle, but you could also end up with some stunning conditions like we've had today. Winter is my favorite time of year, we get a shed load of rain, drizzle and gales, but a few days like today and the dross melts away into history. It really is stunning. 

Unfortuantily I've been at work and my colleague was off so I couldn't get out of the office at lunch to take some pics. The mountains are simply stunning; there is deep snow above about 150m, Glamaig looks like you could slide all the way down to the sea shore, and the Cuillins, well, white and not black today, though just as spikey. The sky has been clear blue and it has been close to freezing all day. The snow didn't melt much in Portree at all. Lovely.

Superb cover on the higher ridges on Skye. The Cuillin just are amazing with bags of snow down to about 100m or so. But, today is not a day to be up on the hills in this area - MWIS forcasting Gales to 80mph later.

Here's a few pics:

2009-11-30

 

Snow conditions are looking good today with Cairngorm offering reasonable skiing:

 

 

 

Glencoe looks to have decent cover too:

 

Looking GOOOOOOD up north!

Talk of the possibility of widespread snow next week.

http://www.mwis.org.uk/wh.php