A ski season that barely happened and a ski mag that only just got made

Inside tomorrow’s Scotland on Sunday, assuming there hasn’t been a mix-up at the printers, you should find a copy of the 9th annual edition of Scottish Ski & Board – a 28-page supplement devoted to Scottish snowsports. (If there has been a mix-up at the printers, we hope you enjoy our 28-page guide to successful tulip cultivation.) In a typical year, we aim to publish the ski supp in early December, just as the ski season is getting underway, but thanks to Covid-19 the 2020-21 season was anything but typical, with more false starts than a hiccupping sprinter. One minute it seemed the ski centres would be able to open, the next it seemed they were doomed to remain closed; then, for a few short, miraculous-seeming days, they really did open, before quickly being forced to shut up shop again.

All of this has made the last few months something of an emotional rollercoaster for fans of Scottish snow-sliding, particularly those based far from the mountains and therefore unable to get a few turns in under their own steam. Looking back, it all feels like a bit of a blur, and it’s hard to remember exactly what happened when – or, more accurately, what didn’t happen when. Fortunately, for the purposes of trying to get a handle on how the 2020/21 season panned out, I’m able to dip into my email correspondence with the eternally patient folks at Snowsport Scotland, with whom we collaborate on Scottish Ski & Board, and by charting the somewhat tortuous progress of the latest edition of the supplement, sketch out the vague outline of a ski season which barely happened at all.

It’s hard to believe it now, in the aftermath of January’s enormous second spike in covid infections, but in the autumn of 2020, with the schools back and infection rates still relatively low, the idea of a bit of liftassisted skiing over the winter didn’t seem insanely optimistic. Initially,

Scottish Ski & Board was due to publish in December as usual, and the only major change planned was to take out the guide to competitive events, as it was felt that many of these were unlikely to go ahead due to covid restrictions.

By early December, however, it still wasn’t clear when travel between different areas of Scotland would be permitted again, so the decision was made to postpone publication until 17 January. By then, it was hoped, the ski season might be able to kick off in earnest.

In late December and early January there actually were a few days of liftassisted skiing, first at Cairngorm and then at the Lecht, Glenshee and Glencoe. But then, of course, we had the First Minister’s statement of 4 January, in which, responding to the dramatically spiking covid infection rate, she moved to introduce “a legal requirement to stay at home except for essential purposes.” So, skiing was out, and Scottish Ski & Board was moved back to 21 February, and then, in mid-february, with spectacular snow conditions everywhere but still no signs that the resorts would be allowed to open, it was moved again, to 7 March. At this point, there was so much snow on the ground that a spring ski season running through

March and April and perhaps even into early May didn’t seem out of the question. The headline at the start of our six-page guide to Scotland’s ski resorts was duly changed from "Map Out Your Winter" to "Map Out Your Spring" and the intro was re-written as a paean to the joys of swishing around in soft spring snow while wearing a T-shirt and plenty of sunblock.

Then, in early March, came the news that nobody wanted to hear: the 2020/21 ski season had officially been cancelled. Happily, the Scottish Government moved quickly to shore up the ski centres’ losses – a total of £7 million has been pumped into the Scottish snowsports industry this winter to keep it afloat – but even so, what could have been a stellar ski season has been almost entirely lost to covid; not a great tragedy when compared to a global pandemic, but still very sad for all those who had dared to dream it might still go ahead.

And then, of course, there was the question of what to do with Scottish Ski & Board. Had the content been a bit ho-hum we might just have let it sink without trace, but we’d got a great piece from seasoned backcountry explorer Scott Muir on skiing steep, narrow gullies on the Isle of Skye, and Malcolm Jack had done some serious detective work tracking down and interviewing the main players in the UK’S first ever halfpipe snowboard contest, which took place at Cairngorm almost exactly 30 years ago this weekend. It all seemed too good to waste, so we added a four-page picture special, showcasing some of the amazing backcountry skiing and boarding that took place all around the country this winter, and we’re publishing it tomorrow. Either that or the tulips. Think of it as a celebration of the sheer bloody-mindedness of the people who did manage to get a slide in over the last few months, in spite of everything, and a taste of how good the 2021/22 season could be, if only we get another winter like this one.

In late December and early January there actually were a few days of lift-assisted skiing