Ski-touring is hillwalking on skis; skinning up the snow and then skiing down. Scotland is an excellent place to undertake this sport and no better place than the Cairngorms. Skiing in the snowiest wilderness in the UK.

The Cairngorms are the mountainous plateau in the UK. A high area of hills including many Munros. These hills are rounded and grassy rather than the rocky peaks that typify the west of Scotland. This allows snow to accumulate from late autumn to late spring. These are ideal conditions for ski-touring. Get the right weather and ski-touring in the Cairngorms is a fantastic day out.

Northern Cairngorms

Report on Sun, 06 Apr 2025

Daily avalanche reports have ended for this season. Please refer to SAIS homepage https://www.sais.gov.uk for current snowpack info
Link to SAIS Page

Southern Cairngorms

Report on Sun, 06 Apr 2025

SC 07/04/25 Daily avalanche reports have ended for this season. Visit https://www.SAIS.gov.uk for current general snow & mtn info.
Link to SAIS Page

The best ski touring in Scotland is on the less steep rounder hills of the Cairngorms away from the steep rocky faces of many hills. The Cairngorms have another big advantage over many hills - altitude - the higher the hills the more likely they are to attract and keep snow throughout the season, and in the case of the Cairngorms the hills keep the snow late into spring. Although early season the lower hills with snow can be a better choice especially in wild windy conditions.

Pre-Christmas - most times the snow at this time of year will not have a base and can easily melt. Skiing is for the opportunist on those rare sunny days.

January and February - the heart of the Scottish winter. Some terrible weather is to be expected but rest assured a good base of snow is building up. Even so there can be some great crisp winter days.

March - the best month for skiing. The base has been set down. The weather is better. The days are longer. Now is the time to get out onto the distant hills.

April and May - the tail end of the season. The weather is even better than March, the days are much longer and the snow is very forgiving - spring snow. Time to get out on the longer routes before packing up the skis and wait for next year. Well maybe another run down that nice forgiving slope.