We’ve never been to Scotland to go skiing/ boarding, always driven to the alps. This year time is short and so are funds, so we thought maybe we could head to Scotland!

What are the resorts, runs, conditions etc like? We’ll only be going for a 3 or 4 days, how long are the pistes (the pics i’ve seen make them look quite small) as intermediate riders will we get bored?

Obviously conditions aren’t as garanteed as the alps but are they ok to risk heading up from Norfolk to get some riding in?

Thanks

Firstly, there are no resorts as such. Just basic ski centres, although most are within driving distance of a town.

It’s always a risk with Scotland, the weather is fickle. Today for example, loads of snow at Glencoe, but wind is too high. That’s quite regular, the wind often closes Glencoe.

I’d say good intermediates/advanced tend to get the most out of Scottish mountains on the basis that the conditions are often quite “challenging”. I’ve been with beginners/early intermediate in Scotland and they don’t always have much fun (the snow, weather etc can be quite unforgiving, and you can quite quickly become cold and wet in Scotland).

It’s such a risk coming from far. I’m heading up to either Glencoe or Cairngorms after work – my snowboard kit will be in the car, but I aways have a contingency plan.

You can’t really plan a trip to ski in Scotland, you have to really see how the conditions are on the day.

We would drive up from Edinburgh, so would wake up at 6/7am and make a decision then. Wouldn’t want to make it much more in advance than that.

TBH, if you’re driving from Norfolk, you might as well go to France. There’s not much in it time wise.

yep i agree i live near glenshee and i love it but it is unpredictable..cairngorms is prob best for guaranteed snow and aviemore isnt a bad town to hang around in.theyres a plethora of places to stay/eat/lounge etc.great b and bs etc..

ive got mates who got a season ticket for cairngorm and theyve used it over 20 times so far this year..glenshee keeps shutting cos the road hasnt been cleared by the cooncil 🙄

talk to me about scottish ski resorts

They’re all shite?

Small, over priced, massive queues at the WEs and runs so short you might only get one turn in..

It’s generally cheaper to go to France unless you live in Aviemore, in which case it’s probably still cheaper to go to France.

Cheers for the info guys, guess that’s a bit of a non starter then. Will just have to enjoy the dry slope a bit more 🙁

There’s a few English ‘resorts’. Generally even less impressive than the Scottish ones but maybe worth a day trip.

We’ve done a few long weekends to Italy and Austria Easyjet/RyanAir fly to a few airports within striking distance of decent resorts (eg Innsbruk or Milan). You can get flights pretty cheaply if you are lucky, we’ve had them for under £1 to Italy before.

If you are coming up from England then yeah, it probably makes more sense to go to France. Lift tickets are definitely not good value compared to the Alps. Queues in my experience are horrendous at Glenshee but not usually an issue for Glencoe. I never go to the others cos they are too far for a round trip from Edinburgh. It’s a total lottery and only ever worth deciding 12 hrs before going. I probably will go to Glencoe tomorrow because it looks like it could be a powder day and Glencoe pow days are generally excellent fun… but the wind could yet scupper things.

huge gamble. I have gone many years as I can stay in the camper up there. Have had epic weeks, but last minute decisions. Alps seems the best option from norfolk.

twas epic in glenshee on wednesday – 5 foot of pow……

but it’s all hoovered up by us now and no fresh to report.

locals get the best conditions and runs coz we’re local, etc….

Just fly to a cheap european resort with Ryanair – it will be cheaper than driving to Scotland and they have proper ski resorts rather than small runs consisting of mainly heather and rocks with a light dusting of snow gun ice crystals on them.

what footflaps said.

fwiw, we always go abroad too,, cant be beaten….

did someone mention English skiing?

Yad Moss

the problem i see with skiing in England/Scotland/Britain is that the mountains are not really all that high, so the lifts/pistes are all at or near the top, where the most reliable consistent snow is…

..and the wind.

Footflaps +1 and I live less than an hour from Glenshee and just over an hour from Cairngorm

Go to Slovenia . Like Austria but cheaper.

Norfolk is a long way away. However there are a few ‘naysayers’ here who whilst being partly right that:

– facilities are not a patch on the Alps
– costs are not that great
– snow is unpredictable [but probably for next few weeks at least]
– queues can be long esp. at weekends (although not necessarily as bad as you might imagine, especially if you are staying local so on the slopes early).
– weather can be anything from beuatiful (but that is lucky) to very unpleasant (which might be unlucky) to so bad they close the slope (this is actually lucky as it removes the option of going – when you see what they will open in, you realise you don’t want to be there when they give up!).

There is a fairly important point (on a forum like this) they seem to have missed:

– Aviemore (and to a lesser extent the other ski centres) are also Mountain bike heaven. Its not uncommon to find it so bad on the hill that either the slope is closed or all sane people have left but down in the valley its dry, relatively sheltered and great biking weather.

If you want 4 days of reasonably certain good skiing don’t plan a scottish trip more than a week or two in advance. BUT if you’ve got 4 days that you can go for, and can take the bikes and the skis then I think you can be reasonably hopeful of some more interesting fun than staying in Norfolk, just decide each day whether it looks good for the white stuff or a bike day!

>Just fly to a cheap european resort with Ryanair – it will be cheaper than driving to Scotland and they have proper ski resorts rather than small runs consisting of mainly heather and rocks with a light dusting of snow gun ice crystals on them.<

You are of course talking out of your arse.

Yup, Scotland can indeed be highly variable however Poly above gives a more balanced take on things. Beyond that I CBA justifying it, it’s probably one of these things you either get or do not.

Best of luck if your Ryanaiar flights get cancelled 😉

OP – ask on here:

http://www.winterhighland.co.uk