This site gives web surfers the opportunity to see and read about Scottish winter mountain conditions. Weather report links for skiing, climbing and the Scottish Avalanche Service (SAIS) are also included.

This unique, world leading service was designed in 1998 to give walkers, climbers and ski-tourers a realistic idea of winter snow and ice conditions using written reports and the latest digital photographic technology. Digital photographs appear regularly for the Cairngorms and links to other static and mobile web cameras. Independent volunteers provide reports on an ad hoc basis.

When WinterNet was first set up in 1998 it was hosted on AOL but the success of the website was its own undoing as so many winter enthusiasts visited the site in 1999 that it caused the server to crash. The website has then relocated to a more reliable commercial server with increased bandwidth.

During the peak winter season in February and March 1999 WinterNet Scotland was receiving up to 2,000 visits each week and by January 2003 the site was averaging more than 2,000 hits per day. See the webstats below:

The idea for the service arose several winters ago in 1998 when many hill-goers had become frustrated by the season's erratic weather conditions and misleadingly optimistic ski reports. They didn’t believe reports of good winter conditions in April! This was when Cairngorm saw some of the widest and deepest snow cover it has had for some time and all this just as the avalanche reports ended for the season! This happened again in 1999.

Mountaineering Instructor and qualified webmaster Ron Walker of Talisman Activities pioneered the idea of WinterNet giving a lot of his time, energy and money to develop it. With your continued support he will continue to develop the idea...so make sure you tell your all your friends and colleagues to bookmark WinterNet and if you know of any potential sponsors please ask them to contact Ron.