Snow going quickly – not opening today

I’m afraid conditions are as we expected. There’s a fairly quick thaw – temperature about 3 degrees – and the snow is going fast. We’ll have to wait for the next cold spell before we open again. Hopefully this early start to the snow season is a harbinger of a snowy winter to come.

Good day today but snow on the way out

Very good day today on a mix of packed snow with a bit of fresh added and some icy patches. Complete cover again, even at the end of the day. Unfortunately the forecast is for the weather to warm up overnight with some sleet followed by rain so it’s unlikely we’ll be able to open tomorrow. However we will check conditions first thing in the morning and will update around 8.30am.

Good day today & Opening tomorrow, Thursday

A very good day at Allenheads – blue sky, minus 1oC and 11cms of lovely light snow. Only downsides were absence of people – there were only a dozen of us – and a frozen rope on A tow. The tow worked OK but tended to slip if more than 2 people on the tow at a time. I suspect we’ll have the same problem tomorrow although it might ease as the day goes on.

We’ll run the tows tomorrow from about 11.00 until about 3.00, maybe a little bit later. We’ve got some work to do on both tows which we’ll try and get done from 11.00 but will need some support, especially to replace the support rope at the top of A tow. So if you plan to come tomorrow, will be great if you can get there for 11.00. The work should take less than 30 minutes.

Difficult to be sure but I think we’ll also be able to open on Friday but probably not Saturday.

Tows running today

There’s about 10cms of snow at Allenheads and a forecast of sub zero temperatures all day so conditions are looking good. We’ll open and run the tows from about 10.30. If possible, we will do some of the work on the tows we’d planned for tomorrow. That means you may be asked to help and there may be some short interuptions to the running of the tows.

Usual advice – you’ll need to take a shovel to dig a parking space. As its Wednesday, the Hemmel Cafe is not open.

Membership open and possible skiing tomorrow

We are now open for membership for the coming season. Reduced rates still apply until the 1st December. See https://ski-allenheads.co.uk/membership/ for all the details.

Quite varying forecasts but it is looking likely that it will snow at Allenheads overnight tonight with a possibility that there will be enough snow to open tomorrow. We’ll check conditions tomorrow morning and update once we know how things look.

Couple of cms of snow

There’s a couple of cms of snow at Allenheads but not enough to make skiing viable. More snow is forecast over the next 2 days, along with some sleet, so enough may accumulate to make opening possible. There’ll be an update as things change.

Opening Monday

Another excellent days skiing and boarding for an estimated 120 – 150 members and the snow has continued to be very good with full coverage across the field apart from the odd patch such as on a slalom course.

The forecast is for a slow thaw overnight and tomorrow morning, then warming up quickly tomorrow afternoon. Given the depth of snow, we think it will remain skiable for a period tomorrow before bare patches appear so we will open one tow – the one by the entrance – at 10.30 and look to continue running until early afternoon, perhaps 2.00pm, assuming conditions are ok. We will check the field tomorrow morning and provide another update if conditions have significantly changed.

The Hemmel Cafe will be open from 10.00am to 3.30pm.

Opening Sunday, possibly Monday

Another excellent days skiing and boarding for an estimated 150 – 200 members and the snow is holding up very well. A bit of a problem with A tow when one of the pins holding the top trestle came out. Thanks to everyone who worked hard to get it fixed in pretty rapid time, especially as it meant the tow could continue running into its evening floodlit session.

We will open tomorrow, Sunday, by 11.00am but will try to get started earlier, perhaps by 10.30. The temperature should stay around freezing so we should be able to run the tows until 4.00pm. Possibly also opening on Monday.

It will be very busy again so we may not have enough boots and skis to meet demand so if you are dependant on using our equipment, it would be best to come early. We cannot reserve gear. If you do borrow skis or boots, please give a £5 donation per set so we can look to buying replacement gear.

Parking nearest to the slope is still limited, however we have had the two car parks in the village cleared so there is a lot of room, but space is still limited so please park carefully and try to maximise the use of the space which is available.. One of the cleared car parks is in front of the Allenheads Inn and the other, larger one, is across the road from the Inn. Both car parks are in easy walking distance, about three hundred metres, from the ski-slope. Please make sure you don’t park inconsiderately near the slope – all of the roads need access for snow ploughs and buses.

The Hemmel cafe will be open for drinks from 9.30am (knock if the doors are still closed) and food from 10.00. the cafe will close at 4.00pm. They have started serving gluhwein – including to take away and the verbal reviews are excellent!

Opening Saturday from 10.30

Conditions are still great, full snow cover, cold and, again for tomorrow, sunny. We’ll be opening from about 10.30am and will run the tows until about 4.00pm, with the possibility, if there is enough help and demand and the flood lights all work, that we will continue running until about 5.30pm.

Parking nearest to the slope is still limited, however we have had the two car parks in the village cleared so there will be plenty of room over the weekend. One of the car parks is in front of the Allenheads Inn and the other, larger one, is across the road from the Inn. Both car parks are in easy walking distance, about three hundred metres, from the ski-slope. Please make sure you don’t park inconsiderately near the slope – all of the roads need access for snow ploughs and buses.

The Hemmel cafe will be open from 10.00 to 3.30pm and they have started serving gluhwein – including to take away!