 Poster: A snowHead
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^^^^ and Cairngorm (the area that has historically had most skier-days) had working uplift from the bottom of the mountain - not a disastrous, white elephant of a broken funicular that has completely prevented access to perfectly skiable snow over the last two winters....
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Nevis reopened Tues.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| Whitegold wrote: |
You cannot ignore the facts.
Scotland once got ~600k skier days a season.
Now, it struggles to get 50-100k, due to lack of snow.
Yet more rain is forecast this week.
In the peak of coldest winter. |
Some of the past skier day figures are a total fairytale, they included stupid numbers of days for season pass holders for a start.
That said even though the numbers were inflated, the true numbers were still totally unsustainable. Things came to a head in 88/89 through 91/92 - over demand and 3 years out of four truly awful seasons, when there was snow the numbers were absurd.
With the situation on CairnGorm, there isn’t the capacity now to get the numbers they used to get, even the 100k plus seasons in the early 2010s are a pipe dream because then people were prepared to cut them some slack on the basis that big skier days would see investment. Instead they spent money chopping up ski lifts and the market share plummeted in response, particularly after the Ciste Chairs were felled.
So while the current run of seasons has some striking similarities to 88/89 through 91/92 played backwards, 2018 was a notably better season than 1991.
Indeed before people cast too much gloom and doom, Glencoe recorded it’s best ever skier day figure in 2018. The biggest snow year since at least 1994 and some say in living memory was 2014, it was the mildest winter of the past decade. The climate battle zone that we occupy makes the consequences of a changing climate complicated and unpredictable, average temperature alone tells you nothing about winter in Highland Scotland!
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@haggishunter +1, excellent post.
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Glencoe looking pretty decent today!
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For 2018/19 CairnGorm had 4515 skier days, which rounds out to an 8% market share. Glencoe had 9030, the total for all 5 is 54,481 - a fraction above 16/17, but had everything else been equal it probably should have been above a 70k season with at least another 20k on CairnGorm.
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| haggishunter wrote: |
| Things came to a head in 88/89 through 91/92 - over demand and 3 years out of four truly awful seasons, when there was snow the numbers were absurd. |
Until I read this I didn't realise how lucky I was then when I lived in Glasgow during the 90/91 season and had fantastic snow all season - in fact that was where I popped my cherry of learning the sport that we love. I was up at Nevis Range almost every weekend from mid-Jan to mid-May unless the winds had closed the lifts.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| haggishunter wrote: |
| Whitegold wrote: |
You cannot ignore the facts.
Scotland once got ~600k skier days a season.
Now, it struggles to get 50-100k, due to lack of snow.
Yet more rain is forecast this week.
In the peak of coldest winter. |
Some of the past skier day figures are a total fairytale, they included stupid numbers of days for season pass holders for a start.
That said even though the numbers were inflated, the true numbers were still totally unsustainable. Things came to a head in 88/89 through 91/92 - over demand and 3 years out of four truly awful seasons, when there was snow the numbers were absurd.
With the situation on CairnGorm, there isn’t the capacity now to get the numbers they used to get, even the 100k plus seasons in the early 2010s are a pipe dream because then people were prepared to cut them some slack on the basis that big skier days would see investment. Instead they spent money chopping up ski lifts and the market share plummeted in response, particularly after the Ciste Chairs were felled.
So while the current run of seasons has some striking similarities to 88/89 through 91/92 played backwards, 2018 was a notably better season than 1991.
Indeed before people cast too much gloom and doom, Glencoe recorded it’s best ever skier day figure in 2018. The biggest snow year since at least 1994 and some say in living memory was 2014, it was the mildest winter of the past decade. The climate battle zone that we occupy makes the consequences of a changing climate complicated and unpredictable, average temperature alone tells you nothing about winter in Highland Scotland! |
The Scotland snow season has shrunk by ~30 days in the past ~50 years.
However you slice the numbers, the general trend is down.
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| Whitegold wrote: |
The Scotland snow season has shrunk by ~30 days in the past ~50 years.
However you slice the numbers, the general trend is down. |
Any data to back up that assertion? The October to June seasons of yore is beyond rose tinted goggles - yes there have been seasons that begun in October and yes there’s been seasons with mechanised uplift into even late June. But it’s just hogwash to say that both of these used to occur regularly in the same season, indeed October lift served snowsports has tended to either follow poor seasons (Mid October and early November 92 was the best period of the year on CairnGorm) or more be a precursor of doom such as 2002/03!
It’s the nature of our maritime climate, that back loaded winters with cold snowy springs are fairly common. I believe the average opening date of Glencoe since 1955/56 is 18th Jan and it didn’t open till mid Feb in year 1. The trend recently has actually been to earlier starts.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| haggishunter wrote: |
| Whitegold wrote: |
The Scotland snow season has shrunk by ~30 days in the past ~50 years.
However you slice the numbers, the general trend is down. |
Any data to back up that assertion? The October to June seasons of yore is beyond rose tinted goggles - yes there have been seasons that begun in October and yes there’s been seasons with mechanised uplift into even late June. But it’s just hogwash to say that both of these used to occur regularly in the same season, indeed October lift served snowsports has tended to either follow poor seasons (Mid October and early November 92 was the best period of the year on CairnGorm) or more be a precursor of doom such as 2002/03!
It’s the nature of our maritime climate, that back loaded winters with cold snowy springs are fairly common. I believe the average opening date of Glencoe since 1955/56 is 18th Jan and it didn’t open till mid Feb in year 1. The trend recently has actually been to earlier starts. |
Wow - impressive stats! Are these written down anywhere? Also, anyone know if the car park cafe (possibly nor called that!) has any chance of reopening this season?
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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You know it makes sense.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Poster: A snowHead
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I'm keeping my eye on Glenshee - the minute there's enough snow to open the runs I'm throwing the snowboard in the van and I'm off!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Glenshee is fabulous when conditions are right.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Glenshee because I want to do that black run there.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| boisdevie wrote: |
| Glenshee because I want to do that black run there. |
The tiger? Nothing special.
Tbe best runs at glenshee are over the other side off Glas Maol. Unfortunately long queues form quickly at the poma back up.
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Glencoe looking to be pretty sweet the end of the week.
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Looks like 10-50cm will fall this week.
Some may reopen.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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So I and some friends are up near aviemore this week. We have a free day tomorrow. Having not skied in scotland before can any locals advise the likelihood of things being open tomorrow?
The plan would be cairngorm as its closest but if its recommended I could try and convince people to do a longer drive!
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Glenshee might be a better bet. Bit more sheltered from the wind. They are looking at opening tomorrow, does really depend on the wind tho.
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@wam15, I would head to Glenshee, or failing that perhaps Glencoe.
Wherever you go I think it will be a progressive opening and probably very limited terrain as there's little time for storm recovery work, bashing out drifts etc. Thursday may be better, though possibly another storm approaching from the south.
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You know it makes sense.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Also, those links will show the snowgates toward Glenshee as well, which might be your problem tomorrow too.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Tomorrow looks tricky tbh.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| GreenDay wrote: |
If it all hangs around next week looks good and I am dreaming of a bluebird / quiet day midweek (one of the benefits of self employment  ) |
Hoping for much more snow between now and Sunday but also dreaming of a bluebird quiet day or 2 next midweek. Work 4 on/4 off and next week days off are Monday to Thursday. Nice to see Winter finally kicking in.
Last edited by Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person on Tue 11-02-20 19:32; edited 1 time in total
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Glencoe is reopening Weds (subject to wind).
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@wam15, from Aviemore tomorrow, I’d suggest Nevis. It is not that far and much more likely to get working well ahead of Cairngorm. The drive is downhill so less likely to be sat in the car all morning. The front of the mountain has no shelter in a northwest wind though so if it’s snowy in the car park, the lower mountain at Glencoe might be better. 50 mins further to drive though.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Thanks all for the advice! Will see how far I can convince the other to drive! In terms of less driving what about the lecht?
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@wam15, last time I checked the Lecht road was closed.
Would agree with@what...snow, head West to Nevis or Glencoe.
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@wam15, I would wait until morning to see what is happening and who has the best snow and weather, it doesn't matter where you go they will all be assessing the situation after the storm and will possibly open late, the best place to check is on their websites or Facebook pages. If you don't already know the best place for the road conditions is traffic Scotland https://trafficscotland.org
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Thanks for all the advice. I will let you know what we decide in the morning!
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Wind will be your enemy still tomorrow. Glencoe looks loaded in places but will need a bit of digging out, Glenshee looks to be opening up but only Cairnwell side and limited, again they will need to push a bit of snow around. Looks like a nice day, that;s where I'm heading as I am off work !
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Lecht road is up with Cairngorm ski road as most blocked in Scotland, although much less steep from the west than the east. Still a bit interesting at Bridge of Brown. Lecht write up is not very positive. Pity the cams are so limited at Nevis but I would expect much more snow there.
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FAQ
West is looking best... 
I give you....
