Best Ski Conditions of the Season in Scotland

14th January 2023

Last modified on January 24th, 2023

There has been 40cm of new snow and conditions are superb. Earlier, high winds meant the access roads to The Lecht and Cairngorm were impassable. Scotland is seeing an excellent winter season so far.

“All five Scottish ski areas have had great snow this week; Friday was the day of the season so far, with no wind and perfect blue skies,” said PlanetSKI’s Scotland reporter, Rod Frazer, from Glenshee.

“Next week sees milder temperatures, so spring snow conditions should become the norm for a few days,” Rod added.

Check out the video report from Rod:

And here are some images from Glenshee:

Glenshee, Scotland. Image c/o Dianne Frazer

Earlier in the week snowdrifts across the access roads meant Cairngorm and the Lecht were unable to open.

“All runs have new snow but it’s drifting in the strong winds. Access roads are closed,” said the Lecht.

“Ploughs are battling 6ft drifts so it’s going to take a lot of work to get them cleared.”

It has been cold in Scotland with temperatures falling to -10c in the area.

Scotland also recorded the biggest snowfall of the year in the Highlands on Wednesday.

The snow has caused schools to close with disruption to the transport system.

See here for an earlier article from Glencoe by PlanetSKI’s Scotlands reporting team, Rod and Dianne Frazer:

Despite some reasonably mild weather early in January the higher parts of the Scottish ski areas have been getting plenty of snow, especially on the west.

On Friday 13^th January they headed to Glencoe – conditions were excellent.

Lower slopes had spring snow with plenty of coverage and the upper part of the mountain has really filled in now.

Glencoe, Scotland. Image c/o Dianne Frazer

Glencoe, Scotland. Image c/o Dianne Frazer

It feels like the ski season in the west is properly underway.

The freezing level is due to stay much lower this week.

That means there should be plenty more snow on the lower slopes, which is even more important at neighbouring Nevis Range where the lower pistes provide access to the upper mountain.

It already has superb snow cover.

In the east Glenshee suffered some snow loss with the mild temps last week, so will hopefully benefit from the coming week’s colder temperatures.

The Lecht is still offering decent skiing but could do with a top up as well – fingers crossed.