Snow sports in Scotland

[Hammy98]

Hello all,

Looking to get a bit of snowboarding in on my time off over Christmas. So far I've only been on the dry slopes in the Glasgow area and the 'real snow' at Soar Braehead where I had my lessons.

Any recommendations for a couple of day trips? - would be traveling by car from Glasgow so would like to avoid going all the way to Aviemore.
I've heard good things about Glencoe however I've been monitoring their site and quite a few of their runs haven't been open recently.

Cheers,

[Jambo85]

Hello

You're lucky to be so relatively close to Glencoe, there and Glenshee are the two best IMO. Both have excellent terrain - Scotland's 3 Valleys is Glenshee's claim, the Coire Fionn and Glaas Maol runs are dynamite. Glencoe has superb natural features and has a great vibe. It is mostly drag lifts though (and t bars at that), which can be punishing on a board.

Cairngorm (Aviemore) has some of the best terrain and conditions, and a funicular which is nice for boarders in particular. Also usually a park set up later on in the season. But it seems they'd rather just serve coffee and cake to bus tours so you feel like an inconvenience, which is a shame.

Once you get more confident it's worth driving past the Coe late in the season to get into the back corries at Nevis. They're something else when on form!

The Lecht while fine for Aberdonians would rarely if ever be worth the drive from Glasgow.

But it's all about the conditions and they can vary greatly between the resorts. Www.winterhighland.info is a great source of unbiased reports on conditions.

Check carefully as you probably haven't boarded on boiler plate ice before, and it's not a great way to spend a day (this is what 'a bit firm' usually means!).

Some serious thawing happening just now so I don't fancy your chances next week to be honest, but it can all change. Bear in mind the Scottish season is often at its best well in to March and April, when most people have forgotten about snow - so if you find it a bit rubbish over the next few weeks don't write it off.

Interestingly there are currently two Snow Factories in Scotland for the first time, it'll be interesting to see how they do.

Short answer - from Glasgow I'd choose Glencoe almost every time!

[colin79666]

Perhaps not for next week when there is real stuff about, but the dry slope at Hillend Ski Centre is the biggest in the country and under an hour from Glasgow.

[Jambo85]

colin79666 said:

Perhaps not for next week when there is real stuff about, but the dry slope at Hillend Ski Centre is the biggest in the country and under an hour from Glasgow.

It's the biggest in Europe in fact! And well worth a visit when the real stuff is about. You get the lift to the top then cut off across a field, before ending up on the golf course, from where you can ski all the way to the car park of The Steading pub.

Ahhh, uni days

[Hammy98]

Cheers for the reponses guys, I’ll try and get myself down to hillend in the coming week - been a while since I’ve been on a dry slope. I’ll definitely get down for the day if theres any snow before I start back work.

The info on Glencoe and Aviemore is much appreciated. I was unaware of the ideal ‘season’ and just assumed it would be around the new year, so hopefully can book a few days off work around March to make the most of it!

Cheers,

[Jambo85]

Good stuff. The key is to be as flexible as you can on dates and be able to drop everything and go when the the conditions are right!

[J66JBo]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but there is no snow left on the ski areas. It is due to get colder after Christmas but I likely to have anywhere open again until after the new year.

[Jambo85]

Indeed. If I'm not mistaken this has happened more often than not in the last five years - get off to a promising start in Nov/Dec and then a hairdryer wind comes and strips the hills bare overnight. January then a frustrating non-event and a few decent dumps finally in February and March.

A frustrating old game!

[mon the fish]

I wish the skiers at Glenshee would pay more attention to the fact that the road through it is the A93 and therefore a main trunk road - not part of the car park where can you can safely wander at will!

Thankfully a lot of them wear hilariously garish clothing so are easy to spot as they wander up the middle of the road...

[Hammy98]

Appreciate the replies lads, I'd been keeping an eye on the snow reports over the holidays and didn't really see any days worth venturing up. Here's hoping for February/March.

[Jambo85]

Looks like it's getting going now and a decent spell of cold weather ahead

[tvrolet]

mon the fish said:

I wish the skiers at Glenshee would pay more attention to the fact that the road through it is the A93 and therefore a main trunk road - not part of the car park where can you can safely wander at will!

Thankfully a lot of them wear hilariously garish clothing so are easy to spot as they wander up the middle of the road...

Great contribution there - I'm sure that's really useful for the OP asking where to go snowboarding.

Presumably you've driven through since 1985?

[Jambo85]

If I lived in Glasgow I'd need a pretty good reason not to be at Glencoe tomorrow. It doesn't get a lot better than this.

http://hosted-p0.vresp.com/578510/79033158e1/ARCHI...

Hats off to Glencoe management for publishing a testimonial like this:

"Best snow I've felt in ages. Such a shame I couldn't see it, or anything else. I'll try again next week"

[Skornogr4phy]

There and glenshee are going to be packed tomorrow.

[Jambo85]

Probably, but Nevis and the Lecht also in good shape so hopefully people will spread out. Would like to get to the Lecht on Sunday but Mrs has other ideas.

[Skornogr4phy]

This is true, but Glenshee and Glencoe are the closest to Glasgow and Edinburgh are they not? Either way, the sunnyside section in Glenshee is being opened up today.

[tvrolet]

I had planned to go up to Glenshee on Monday to avoid the crowds, but the forecast didn't look great so I popped up today. The bad news, maybe only 1/8 of the areas was open; but the good news was the cover (although pretty thin in places) had some nice snow to be found, and until maybe 2:30 the weather was clear with maybe only a 'strong breeze' at the top and flat calm calm at the lifts...although it was a twa-bunnet day for me as a bit chilly at times. Surprisingly though it wasn't actually that busy - no queues until about 10:30, then got worst until maybe 2:00, but I timed Butchart's Access and although it looked a longish queue it was only a 10 minute or so wait at worst. And once Sunnyside opened it was back down to around 5 minutes - and while queuing is always a pain, the limited uplift actually meant the runs were pretty empty.



And I found some freshies for some turns



If my maths are correct this is now the 50th year I've been skiing at Glenshee - by my reckoning my first trip as a kid was in 1968 (with wooden skis and leather boots, but I could already ski a bit by then anyway)...or maybe it was 1967... Anyway cause for a wee drinkie to celebrate tonight.

[Jambo85]

Bravo!

Think the Lecht is back on for me tomorrow. Forecast suggests suncream required!!

[mon the fish]

tvrolet said:

Great contribution there - I'm sure that's really useful for the OP asking where to go snowboarding.

Presumably you've driven through since 1985?

Thanks, appreciate the feedback.

Yes, I drive the road at least once a month; I need to use it to get places. It's helpful when people don't wander up the middle of it.

Edited by mon the fish on Monday 8th January 06:55

[Skornogr4phy]

I was skiing on Monday and really enjoyed it. It was my first time skiing in Scotland, and having set my expectations relatively low, was pleasantly surprised. Sunnyside had some lovely bits on it and even managed some off piste.