Artificial snow will help resorts make the most of the season even if the weather fails
Usually at this time of year, those of a betting disposition can have a bit of fun taking a punt on when the Scottish ski season will begin. In a good year, some resorts might open in November; in a bad year, skiers might have to wait until mid-january for their first lift-assisted slide. This year, though, it’s possible to say with absolute certainty that the new ski season will begin… today, at the Lecht, where a futuristic machine called a Snowfactory has been belching out piles of artificial snow for weeks.
In an interview with The Scotsman a couple of months back, the Lecht’s head honcho James Mcintosh claimed they would be up and running on 1 December, and a glance at the resort’s webcam a few days ago showed everything shaping up nicely. The snow cover on most of the runs may still have been patchy, but the run directly beneath the Snowy Owl chairlift was dotted with slightly surreal-looking hillocks of freshlymade snow, ready to be flattened into a perfect piste.
Having used the expression “absolute certainty”, however, let’s not forget that this is Scotland, and even if the folks at the Lecht have an immaculately groomed piste ready by 9am today, there’s still no guarantee they’ll be able to open for skiing. Storm Diana should have shot her bolt by the time you read this, but at time of writing the Mountain Weather Information Service is still calling for “bouts of upland gales” into the weekend. So, if you’re planning to start your ski season at the Lecht today, please call to make sure they’re definitely open before you jump in the car.
Over at Glencoe, meanwhile, they also have a Snowfactory in place and also hope to have “limited snowsports” available this weekend.
In a report posted online earlier this week, resort owner Andy Meldrum said he thought the “best case scenario” for today and tomorrow would be skiing in the bottom half of Coire Pollach, plus a dedicated beginners’ area and a sledging area. (The worst case scenario would be a sledging area plus an area for beginners’ ski and snowboard lessons.) If there is lift-served skiing available at Glencoe today, it will be limited to those who have been invited to the resort’s Snowfactory opening day event, so for everybody else tomorrow will be the earliest chance for a slide.
Up at Cairngorm, they also have a Snowfactory in place for this season, although with the funicular out of action for the foreseeable they’ll mostly be using it to make sure the surface lift up-tracks are complete on the lower slopes, so that skiers are able to access the top half of the hill. Still, the upper mountain is already looking reassuringly white, so if the weather plays ball, Cairngorm could be open sooner rather than later. Nevis Range and Glenshee don’t have enough snow for skiing just yet (or Snowfactories to make artificial stuff ) but with some snow already lying they might not have long to wait.
Whatever happens at Scotland’s ski centres over the next few months, the industry certainly received a muchneeded boost last season, clocking up its best visitor numbers in five years, and more than its fair share of photogenic blue-sky days – all of which made producing this year’s
Scottish Ski & Board supplement, free with tomorrow’s Scotland on Sunday, a lot of fun.
Stevie Mckenna is one of the most respected snowsports snappers working in Scotland today. He’s been shooting skiing and snowboarding here for more than a decade, but his pictures from the 2017-18 season were some of the best we’ve ever seen, so we thought it was high time we interviewed him for Scotland’s most widely read snowsports mag.
Also in Scottish Ski & Board tomorrow, our intrepid reporter Cat Hart meets some of the incredible athletes who take part in Scotland’s ski mountaineering series, Skimo Scotland, including the circuit’s power couple Donnie and Rachael Campbell, who don’t seem to let the fact that they aren’t particularly great skiers stop them from sweeping all before them thanks to their superhuman levels of fitness.
If you’re curious about how Snowfactories are revolutionising Scottish skiing, we’ve got a feature about those too, and of course, we’ll have the skinny on all the major snowsports events coming up this season plus exhaustive, up-todate guides to all five of Scotland’s main ski centres and Glasgow’s Snow Factor, where upland gales don’t tend to be an issue. Enjoy.
A futuristic machine called a Snowfactory has been belching out piles of fake snow