UK Outdoor Snow News

“It just gets better and better.” is the comment from staff at CairnGorm ski area above Aviemore in Scotland.

Approximately 1.5 metres or five feet of snow has now fallen on the upper slopes since Christmas and temperatures forecast to remain at or below freezing for the rest of the week at least.

With the local school holidays finishing last weekend it is one of the best times in the past decade to visit the slopes with the crowds of Christmas and New Year gone and excellent cover from top to bottom for the whole hill available to explore.

The snow is dry and crunchy on the pisted runs, the M1 and Cas have groomed powder and the top bowls are pisted virtually from fence to fence.

The first funicular up is at 9am but other surface uplift will usually operate from half an hour earlier. Last funicular up is at 3.20pm/down 4.00pm.

You can buy ski tickets (but not ski hire) on-line on www.cairngorm.com. You can also buy 4 Day Skiing Tickets Vouchers on-line (£96 for adults and £58 for a child).

Vouchers can be used any day this skiing season but only one voucher per day may be used. These on-line purchases need to be presented at the ranger base office on arrival and exchanged for a ticket for the day.

On busy days (weekends) a cash only desk for day ski tickets (no hire and no two-day tickets) operates from the window in the side of the day lodge so visit a cash machine before you come on site for fast ticket purchase.

Within the ticket office itself one queue will be a dedicated ‘ski tickets only for cash or credit cards’ (no hire) queue while the remaining windows will be for tickets and hire or hire only (and voucher/multi-day purchases).

But...

Check out this amazing NASA satellite image taken at 11.15am yesterday showing the extent of the deep freeze. Only the tip of Anglesey, the Cumbrian coast and parts of Western Scotland are still green.

Jerry Boothroy skiing outside the shopWe've just got off the phone from Roddy Mackay who runs LD Mountain Centre in Newcastle upon Tyne. His shop has featured on a host of news sites recently as employees were spotted turning the ice-packed pavement of Dean Street's 30% gradient outside the shop into a makeshift downhill run.

Roddy says both the shop and online sales have gone through the roof.

To top it off, yesterday Roddy sent rider Andy Wood and photographer James Cummings to Weardale an hour's drive from the shop and this was the result.

Andy Wood at Weardale, Northumberland © James Cummings

Virgin Media - Shop worker's outdoor demonstration
Times Online picture gallery
Scotsman - Snow helps shop's business to boom
Mail Online.
West Morland Gazzette with video.

Scotland continues its best start to the winter in 14 years with CairnGorm Mountain’s thigh-deep powder offering “better skiing than Utah!” according to ski patroller Colin Matthew. Although The Lecht’s powder is “only” knee-deep, Lecht Managing Director, Pieter du Pon said “because the temperature’s not risen above freezing since before Christmas, it’s really staying nice and fluffy.” The other ski areas too have the best early-season snow for a decade, and Glenshee, which has welcomed over 12,000 skiers and boarders since Christmas Eve, now has all three valleys and four mountains open. Across on the west side of Scotland, good early snow is relatively unusual, but both Glencoe Mountain and Nevis Range report an excellent start to the season, with good snow on the upper parts of their mountains.

Whilst Scotland is reporting their best season for 14 years, it's also worth noting there's a few English hills that operate on and off.

One of those is Harwood Common in County Durham, who recently contacted SCUK to let us know they now have their own website at www.harwoodski.webs.com and that there's also an answer phone service with up-to-date snow reports; 01748 850415. The club welcomes all snowboarders and is particularly suited to beginners and experienced boarders alike. They are also looking for additional volunteers to help them run the slope this season.

CairnGorm Mountain’s head of ski patrol Colin Matthew says Scotland is offering great skiing at present, as he came in from checking the thigh-deep powder snow which has blanketed Scotland’s premier ski resort right over the Christmas and New Year holiday period.

The centre is currently enjoying its best start to the season for 14 years with ever improving conditions since it opened in November.

Over 1000 skiers and snowboarders celebrated New Year’s Day at the resort above Aviemore in the Scottish Highlands by skiing on the mountain although overhead conditions were less attractive than on some recent days with falling snow reducing visibility.

The keenest skiers even spent Hogmanay in the car park at the resort in order to be first onto the slopes; several large campervans were parked there overnight in freezing conditions and falling snow.

By New Year’s Day 16000 skiers have enjoyed the early snow on CairnGorm during 29 days of skiing since the resort first opened this season on 28th November 2009. In the same period last season only 4000 skiers took to the slopes and there were only 16 days on which it was possible to ski.

Spokesman Colin Kirkwood commented: “It is unusual for us to have such deep and persistent snow this early in the season and a real bonus for both our regular skiing customers and the many who are visiting us for the first time with several saying that they have opted to ski here rather than in their usual habitat of the Alps. And with temperatures forecast to remain below freezing for the next week to ten days and more snow due to fall, we are building an excellent base which we should be able to hold onto for some considerable time. This all serves to increase awareness of and interest in skiing in Scotland –and of its rewards and challenges.”

Another great day of snow with excellent boarding & skiing. There is even more snow – up to 30cms in places with more forecast overnight. Its looking very promising for the weekend and well into next week.

B tow ran all day. A tow was fixed and ran perfectly for the rest of the day – almost. Just before the close, the A tow rope came off the pully & jammed so it will have to be repaired again tomorrow.

The plans for tomorrow are to run B tow from about 10.45. A tow will run as soon as it is repaired, hopefully by about lunchtime.

One thing to note is that the Hemel coffee shop is open tomorrow from about 9.30 – perfect for breakfast before venturing onto the snow – but will be closed over the weekend. It re-opens on Tuesday. The pub will be open as normal.

Final bit of news. We’re hoping to get a new stock of ski boots tomorrow. Once we’ve seen the boots, we’ll let you know more, especially if we have more larger sizes.

[Dunx says... if anybody is wondering why we never post anything about the Scottish slopes, it's because they never send us anything. They must be doing so well, they don't need any free advertising.]

CairnGorm Mountain’s oldest employee Sandy Murray celebrated his 80th birthday at work in the ticket office last week.

Customer services team member Sandy has worked part-time at the visitor attraction for the past 10 years and still skis regularly at CairnGorm and annually abroad.

The former member of the Fleet Air Arm, time-share salesman, hotelier, lemonade factory proprietor and hot air balloon owner has lived in Aviemore since 1985 and when not working enjoys rally-driving, flying model planes and trading shares on the internet.

Cairngorm is currently open daily with fresh snow this week.

www.cairngormmountain.org

On Saturday 19 December 2009, Scotland’s Nevis Range ski centre celebrated its twentieth anniversary. It re-opened for its winter season exactly twenty years after it first opened its doors on 19 December 1989. Originally operating as a ski resort, the business has grown and diversified since that day. Today it is a major player in the Scottish tourist industry and contributes significantly to the Outdoor Capital of the UK.

The mountain gondola, the only one of its kind in Britain, was originally constructed on the slopes of Aonach Mor as a way to transport skiers to the pistes. However, from day one, the gondola became a highly acclaimed visitor attraction in its own right, attracting around 200,000 visitors annually.
Marian Austin of Nevis Range said, “The past twenty years has been both exciting and challenging. We can't pretend that the ski industry has been an easy ride, but after twenty years, we're still in business, and we still offer winter skiing and snowboarding as well as many other activities.”
“Today, we continue to employ some staff members who have been here since the beginning. As a business located in the 'Outdoor Capital' we are continually working to provide outstanding outdoor experiences for our visitors. We have our sights set firmly on the future and are working to improve existing facilities. We also have ambitious expansion plans that will add even more activities for our visitors over the next couple of years.”

www.nevisrange.co.uk

The tows ran today and will be running tomorrow. There was more snow this evening – several centimetres – and more showers are forecast for tomorrow so conditions will continue to be good. If you go to Allenheads tomorrow, please take a shovel in case you have to dig a parking space.

The forecast up to Christmas looks excellent with more snow showers and staying cold so if you’ve finished work or school, get up to Allenheads during the week. I’ll send out a mail & update the web site tomorrow with more information about running the tows during the week.

There’s about 4 – 6 inches of snow at Allenheads so we’re looking to get a tow running from about 11.00am today. Depending on number of people and the conditions, it will probably run until about 4.00pm.

With more showers possible, its looking good for the weekend. I’ll send out a further email tomorrow morning.

More info on Allenheads here: http://www.snowboardclub.co.uk/slopes-allenheads.html

Scotland’s five mountain ski areas are offering an all-area five-day ski pass for the first time.

This new product is the result of demand from skiers, shown through umbrella group Ski-Scotland’s extensive customer research. The passes are valid for any five consecutive days at any of the five areas: CairnGorm Mountain, Glencoe Mountain, Glenshee, The Lecht and Nevis Range.

Chair of Ski-Scotland, Heather Negus explained, “These new passes offer what must be the best-value five days of skiing in Europe! The pass can start on any day of the owner’s choosing, at any of our ski areas. You can use it for five days at one ski area, one day at each ski area – or any combination. The only requirement is that the five days are consecutive.”

The passes are now on sale, price £115, in person from any of the ski areas. From now until 22nd December they are also available by phone from Nevis Range (01397 705825), and they will also shortly be available online through www.ski-scotland.com, again until 22nd December.

For winter 2009/10, the 5-day all-area ski pass is only available for adults. All five ski areas already offer good deals for children of different ages, with prices ranging from £10 for one day to £64 for 5 days.

If buying by phone or online, Heather advises allowing sufficient time for the ticket to be sent by first class post and added, “if you’re buying in person, it’s best to check opening times with your nearest ski area – while Cairngorm and Nevis Range ticket offices are currently open seven days, until they become operational, the other ski areas are not. At the moment, Glencoe and Glenshee are only open 9-5 Monday to Friday, while The Lecht is open weekends and the end of the week but closed Mondays & Tuesdays.”

The number of people who skied or snowboarded in Scotland in winter 2008-9 was 159,885, worth around £4m to the snowsports centres and at least £12m to the Scottish economy.

Apparently Cairngorm are intending to kick off their season tomorrow with the Ptarmigan Bowl opening, although you might not be able to see much in the blizzards that are forecast.

www.cairngormmountain.co.uk

With snow forecast for the Pennines and Scotland, it's a good time to get ready for the new season, especially when the Ski-Allenheads tows are up an raring to go!

This weekend is your last chance to take advantage of their reduced membership fees. Any applications I receive by 1st December qualify for the reductions so Single Membership is only £20.00, Family Membership £40.00 and Junior Membership, £10.00.

Don't forget this not only entitles you to free skiing for the whole season at Allenheads, it also gets you 10% discount on ski wear & equipment at LD Mountain Centre and Nevisport in Newcastle and 10% on clothing & footwear at Edge Lifewear in Hexham.

Contact Mike Horrocks for details.

Scotland's Glencoe ski area has been bought by Scottish businessman Andy Meldrum, from former owner David Campbell, who owned it since 2005.

Essential maintenance work is reported to be now underway with the aim of opening the centre for the 2009-10 season.

Mr Meldrum hopes to increase the centre's prospects for the future with plans to add mountain-bike trails, an adventure play park, dry ski slope and an archery range in time for summer 2010.

Mr Meldrum is also looking at adding snowmaking to make cover more reliable each winter.

"We have an uphill task ahead of us but, with the support of the local community, ski clubs, ski patrol and the general public, we are certain that we can not only safeguard the future of the resort but improve and develop its facilities." Mr Meldrum told local media.

Manager Bobby Munroe said, "This is really great news for Glencoe snow-sports enthusiasts, for Scottish skiing and for local employment. "We've got a lot of work to do to be open for the start of the season but we're all up for the challenge."

The Scottish Snowsports Marketing Group has welcomed the new owners of Glencoe Mountain as members of the consortium. Better known to skiers and snowboarders as "ski-scotland", the consortium promotes Scottish snowsports on a collaborative basis, even although Scotland's ski areas are also competitors.

"We are absolutely delighted that the sale of Glencoe has gone ahead in time for full winter operation", said Chair of ski-scotland Heather Negus, "and that Glencoe's new owners have confirmed so quickly that they wish to work with us right from the start. It is very important to us that the Group includes all five of Scotland's mountain snowsports areas."

The news also confirms that skiers and boarders who have bought ski-scotland all-area season tickets will be able to use them not only at CairnGorm Mountain, Glenshee, The Lecht and Nevis Range, but also at Glencoe too.

Glencoe will also continue to feature alongside the other ski areas on the successful www.ski-scotland.com website, where snow and road conditions are updated as and when they change each day throughout the winter, and where skiers and boarders can also see real-time conditions through webcams at each ski area.

The official re-opening ceremony of Glencoe will take place on Sunday, 8th November, at 11am. The ticket office will also be open from 11am until 2pm for the same of 2009-10 season tickets.

Heather Negus continued, "with this week's cold weather and snow now on the mountain tops, this is a great time to have news like this to share with our loyal skiers and snowboarders."

Just to remind you all that it's Tows Up Day this Sunday. I realise it was bad planning to hold it on Remembrance Day (I promise it won't happen again) but if you can make it please come and bring as many helpers as you can with you. There will be quite a lot to do and it will take most of the day to complete. I know a few will be unable to come as they have passed on their apologies to me, and so I do urge you to come along if you can.

Other than the social aspect of being there and that satisfying feeling of helping the club, the only other enticement I can think of will be a glass of warm gluewine.

More info from Mike Horrocks

A question mark was hanging over the future of Scotland’s oldest ski resort last night after it emerged it may not open for winter.

The operator of Glencoe Mountain has failed to sell the White Corries centre or attract new investors after putting it on the market in March. Company chairman David Campbell said yesterday that unless a volunteer board of skiing enthusiasts was formed to operate the resort, it may not open this winter.

The plight of the business, 30 miles south of Fort William, prompted Mr Campbell to urge the Scottish Government to do more to help the snow sports industry.

The investment fund manager, who acquired the company in 2004 after the previous owner raised a court action to have it wound up, has written to ministers pleading for more backing, and an online petition to gauge public support has been started.

Mr Campbell said: “I feel that any assistance given to the industry is piece-meal and that politicians do not fully recognise its importance in terms of jobs and the local economy when the summer visitors have gone home.” Lib Dem MP for Skye, Ross and Lochaber Charles Kennedy said the winter closure would be a “blow to tourism across the area”.

Fergus Ewing, Lochaber SNP MSP and the government’s minister for community safety, pledged last night to meet Mr Campbell to discuss the future of the resort. He said the government acknowledged the importance of the ski centres and suggested Glencoe Mountain diversify to boost trade.

“Aonach Mor has diversified with mountain biking and CairnGorm Mountain with the funicular,” he said.

Mr Campbell said the petition, which has more than 1,100 signatures, would remain open for six weeks before being presented to Holyrood ministers.

The resort was put on the market in the hope of attracting new investment to develop the complex, but Mr Campbell said negotiations with two interested parties had failed to reach satisfactory conclusions.

Mr Campbell said: “The number of signatures led me to conclude that there would be support for the formation of a board comprising representatives of the various winter sports activities to run the resort through the coming winter months. I would rather step back and let these interested parties take over this winter’s operation until we can find a way forward.”

Support for ski-ing at Glencoe has come from two senior staff members, Angela Dingwall and Bobby Munro. A message posted by the campaigners on the resort’s website said: “The staff and ski patrol believe that running Glencoe as a club is the way forward. That way we own it together. We have a chance to make this happen now.”

Mr Kennedy said: “The closure of the resort would be a blow to tourism right across the area, but it would be especially felt in the winter. A last-minute private buyer now seems the only remaining hope.”

Highland Council leader and Lochaber councillor Dr Michael Foxley said: “Both ski resorts in Lochaber are significant to the local economy.

“My own view would be that Glencoe needs to consider diversifying and to discuss that with local organisations like the Clachaig and the Ice Factor, which might be able to make things happen.”

[From The Press and Journal]

The petition can be found here: www.glencoemountain.com/v1/

The Glencoe website has launched a petition to save their snow as the resort faces a possibly bleak future. This will be presented to the Scottish Government.

To check the back story on this see:
SCUK forum
BBC News
Winter Highland forum

Scotland’s snow sports areas are hoping that good snow seasons come in threes after two good snow winters in a row. The five ski centres are again offering a “limited edition” all-areas season pass, with the price held at last year’s level until the end of September.

“As we’re hoping for some freezing weather soon, we thought it appropriate to freeze the price!” said Marian Austin, Chair of ski-scotland. “The all-areas season pass allows our skiers and boarders to choose east or west – wherever’s best, in fact. The pass has proved popular in recent years, particularly following good periods of snow, as we have had the last two winters, and so I’d advise people to order their pass now, while the early bird price is still available.”

All-areas season pass holders can take advantage of the best snow and best forecast weather conditions. With the pass valid from December 2009 through to the end of October 2010, holders get a whole winter’s snowsports and even an early season taster if there’s good autumn snow - something which happens more often than many people realise. They are also entitled to spend some time on guaranteed indoor snow at SNO!zone, Scotland’s indoor snow centre.

Winter 2008-9 attracted many people to the Scottish snowsports areas who have not visited before, or not for a long time. All the areas reported a high number of first-time visitors who normally ski or snowboard abroad – a positive spin-off from the current economic climate.

The application form can be downloaded from ski-scotland.com and prices up to 30th September are £399 for adults and £217 for children. Should any of the sought-after passes still be available after the end of September, prices will rise to £439 and £247 respectively.

“Winter 2008-9 had some great conditions for snowsports,” continued Marian, “and of course we’re hoping for great snow again for the coming winter.

All-areas season pass holders will find that, wherever they choose to ski or board in Scotland, the don’t need to queue for a ticket, and as a nice bonus, they will also be able to use their pass for a session at SNO!zone at Braehead in Glasgow too.”

www.ski-scotland.com

A 19 year old "Marathon" chocolate bar wrapper was one of the items unearthed at the mountain clean-up day organised by the Ski Club of Great Britain.

The last weekend of May saw more than 150 people take part in the Ski Club of Great Britain’s Big Spring Clean event, a mountain clean-up day held at Nevis Range and Cairngorm which involved removing dozens of bags of rubbish from the hillside.

Volunteers from as far flung as Australia helped take part, some of whom had returned for a second year running. Rubbish collected included hundreds of cigarette butts, a ski boot, a plastic sledge, broken ski poles, plastic bottles, cans, a bin lid and someone even found a Marathon chocolate bar wrapper dating from 1990, before the snack was rebranded as Snickers. Nearly 60 bags of rubbish were collected in total.

Lizzie Crookenden from the Ski Club who was running the event at Cairngorm, said of the day: “In general the resort was cleaner than you may expect but all the same we picked up a good amount of rubbish. It is hard to imagine how long some of the items take to break down, even something like a banana skin can take over a year to bio-degrade. The day was undoubtedly a success with over 60 people volunteering to help clear up our mountains on what was a fantastic sunny day.”

Heather Negus, Marketing Manager of Nevis Range explained about the problems of litter in the Scottish resort: “One of the biggest issues we have at Nevis Range is people leaving their litter behind and not taking it home. Particularly in the winter people drop their litter and then it snows and nobody can see what has been dropped. Projects like this with the Ski Club of Great Britain coming to the resort, raising awareness about the litter on the hill, and actually getting our visitors to gather the rubbish and take it away are brilliant.’

The event was organised to highlight the amount of rubbish being left on the mountains every year and to get people involved and ‘do their bit’. This was the second Big Spring Clean after a successful inaugural event in 2008, and is part of the Ski Club’s Respect the Mountain campaign, an environmental initiative aimed at raising awareness about the mountains and the impact humans have on them and the environment.

To see all the photos from the Big Spring Clean visit the Ski Club of Great Britain’s website, skiclub.co.uk and to learn more about the Respect the Mountain campaign go to respectthemountain.com

We've heard that Ski Scotland are funding new webcams for all the Scottish resorts to install over the summer. The first off the mark is the webcam for The Lecht.

Three of Scotland’s five snowsports areas are offering great April fun for skiers and snowboarders. The good snowfall a couple of weekends ago refreshed the slopes at Nevis Range, CairnGorm Mountain and Glencoe Mountain, making this one of the longest snowsports seasons in recent years.

“Scotland was amongst the first snowsports country in Europe to start operations this season, with the Lecht opening on 31st October 2008”, said Marian Austin, Chair of ski-scotland. Scotland’s normal winter weather pattern means that, while the east usually gets good early snow, the west and centre often benefit from late snow, which is what we’re seeing now.”

The three areas all have good snow higher up their respective mountains, and have special offers and events planned for the Easter holidays.

Both Nevis Range and CairnGorm report their terrain parks are looking good, and CairnGorm will also host Freestyle coaching sessions from 9th to 11th April (pre-registration necessary) and the spectacular Highland Freestyle Event on 11th April.

Good overhead conditions are forecast for the next few days, but all the areas expect to retain the snow they have. “What we find at this time of year”, continued Marian, “is that when people don’t have snow in their back gardens, they think there’s no snow in the mountains. That means a good, crowd-free experience for those who do come to ski or snowboard at this time of year, with some really great good-value offers and the chance of fair weather overhead to go with it.”

Winter 2008-9 has attracted many people to the Scottish snowsports areas who have not visited before, or not for a long time. All the areas report a high number of first-time visitors who normally ski or snowboard abroad – a positive spin-off from the current economic climate.

www.skiscotland.com

Scotland’s original ski centre has been put on the market again, reportedly in an attempt to find an investor who would look at funding a gondola lift to replace the aged chair and make the centre more viable as a year round attraction.

The idea matches the successful route of Cairngorm at Aviemore and Nevis range near Fort William, both of which attract more summer than winter visitors with their funicular and gondola lifts.

Nevis range has been especially successful attracting mountain bikers who use the gondolas to lift their bikes to the top of a downhill course and Glencoe aims to emulate this business plan.

Glencoe has been in financial trouble for most of the past decade, bought out of receivership in 2004 and rescued again by a management buy out in 2007.

Although the snow arrived a few days later in Scotland than the south of England, domestic resorts have received up to two feet (60cm) of fresh snow over the past 36 hours, which falling on top of an established base has led to extremely good powder and what Nevis Range describes as, “Near alpine conditions.”

Cairngorm has reported receiving two feet (60cm) of fresh snow by this morning (Friday, February 6) and aims to open tomorrow for a spectacular weekend. Having closed yesterday the centre was trying to get the access road clear in order to open this morning, “The White Lady in fantastic condition with two feet of powdery snow. The M1 piste and M2 will be assessed later today. We are in early now to get as much running / pisted / dug out as quick as possible.” said a resort spokesperson.

At The Lecht to the south cover is also excellent, the main problem in recent days has been people getting to the slopes with the access roads closed. The road from the north (Tomintoul) is now open but it remains blocked on the Braemar/Aberdeen side. This situation is likely to change soon and the road open for the weekend.

Glenshee reported conditions as, “Nearly perfect” with virtually all runs open as well as the access roads.

At Nevis Range all main runs on the front face are complete with packed powdery snow on a hard base giving great skiing. You can ski back to the top station and to the base of the quad chair on nice groomed runs. There’s also ample beginner runs with fresh snow giving easy sliding.

At Glencoe to the south all runs have excellent cover of wind packed powder on a firm base and descents of up to five kilometres (three miles) are possible.

Scottish ski resorts have not been affected by the rising values of the Euro, Dollar or Swiss Franc!

ski.visitscotland.com

Since there has been so much snow in the last few days (north of the border as well as south), we thought it would be great to let everybody know.

This is the cairngorm mountain flickr set produced by the ski patrol guys. There was so much snow over night that road and car park was shut so the mountain didn't open. They are saying 3-4 foot of fresh powder mountain wide dropped last night so Friday and this weekend is going to be massive! Glenshee also caught tonnes and Nevis is looking pretty damn sweet too!

www.flickr.com/photos/cairngormmountain/sets/72157613276177119/

Here's a rider report from Nevis Range today (Thursday).


www.winterhighland.info/publicreports

The official ski patrol report reads

Thursday 5th February - 1400 patrol update.

We have a lot of snow and a lot of digging out to do. The whole mountain has had around 2 - 4ft of snow overnight which has improved things greatly. The piste machines are out pisting as much as they can at the moment though we have had a few technical problems with the machines today.

The lower slopes are in great condition and almost full width. The Fiacaill Ridge Piste still has a lot of rocks just underneath the surface. Coire Cas will be running full length as the top has caught a good amount of fresh snow and is in excellent condition. The White Lady in fantastic condition with 2ft of powdery snow. The M1 piste and M2 will be assessed later today."

Looks like it could be an epic weekend!!!!