 Poster: A snowHead
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It's now 9 January 2006, and the Scottish ski season has a familiar hypothetical feel to it. There was a burst of activity very early in the winter, when some lifts were cranked into action at Cairngorm, Glenshee and The Lecht (the easterly resorts).
As far as I know there's been no skiing at all, so far, at Nevis Range and Glencoe (the westerly resorts).
Right now, precisely 3 lifts (serving only beginner slopes) out of 75 lifts in Scotland are operating. And those runs were salvaged with artificial snow.
Here are the comments of Finlay Mickel, from a long and intelligent interview in today's Glasgow Herald:
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"We are right on the cusp of the worst effects [of global warming] here in Scotland," he says. "Families are unable now to jump in the car and head for the ranges in the winter, because the snow simply isn't there. We used to be able to count on a white blanket descending from November to March every year, but that has gone and I don't believe it will ever return.
"As somebody who covers thousands of miles every season, you can't ignore what is happening: the glaciers are melting. And when you're on the European trail, the damage we are doing to the planet is just so obvious. Yes, we have snow-making machines, and there is all kinds of new technology at our disposal nowadays, but nothing beats nature, and we are storing up all kinds of trouble for ourselves. I worry about that, both as a skier and as a human being, and I ask myself, 'Where will the planet be in 100 years?'" |
Looking at the situation as positively as possible we know that Glencoe and Glenshee were rescued from closure by enthusiastic new teams. There are moves to diversify, and maybe use ski lifts for some summer fun, but (for instance) how does a ski instructor achieve any meaningful employment in the Scottish Highlands now?
Did you buy a season ticket for Scottish skiing this winter, and how much use do you want to make of it - for it to make sense? Did you take advantage of the brief spell of action some weeks ago?
What does the future hold?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| November to March every year, |
The rose tinted (or should that be white tinted) spectacles are on again! While it is quite common for a day or two's action in November, or even October, that is usually all it is, with no base formed, a mild westerly will strip the mountains bare overnight. Since the Scottish Ski areas were built, continuous sport from November right through has been very rare, the cover usually breaks if not completely then very close to it in the first half of December, indeed usually around the second week of December.
That's not a recent trend, anyone who follows the forecast model's and the ensemble temperature charts from WetterZentrale will know the red 30year rolling mean temp line. It drops away during November into early December then climbs to a peak in the second week of December that is higher than any point in Novembers Mean.
The climate is such that winter conditions have always been volatile here, and I'm not sure which has a worse effect today, the rose tinted spectacles that show us the “8month” seasons of times gone by, or the doom laden and factually cr@p coverage on climate change, such as the BBC's 'Global Warning' series which opened with the line "it's now been five years since it snowed in the UK."  
Contrary to what many probably think, it's actually been cold enough since mid December, there has been virtually no change in coverage for better or worse in the past 3 and a bit weeks. There is actually a fair stack of snow on CairnGorm Mountain, but it's all on Southern Aspects!  Unfortunately Northerly storms have that effect.
The ski areas, esp CairnGorm have been very unlucky this Christmas and New Year, it wouldn't take much snow at all to get snowsports under way again, and it's been like that for 3 weeks. Just a fraction more snow had come through the 2nd week of December and kept the Top Basin intact, CML would have had probably one of it's busiest holiday periods in many many years, as even without snowsports they achieved over 1000paying visitors a day during the week between Christmas and New Year.
Some say you make your own luck! That's what the Lecht has been doing, the stark contrast between the full width well covered nursery slopes there and the largely snow free frozen rest of the Slopes is something we need to sit up and take notice off. With just a limited snow making system, the Gorm could have had good if limited sport in the Top Basin, with more extensive, more modern automated and more efficient snow making the Scottish areas wouldn't currently be getting written off in the press, but be toasting a hugely successful festive period, with us moving into the 7th consecutive week of the season.... food for thought surely?
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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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Couple of things to add. On Season Tickets, some people are already well on the way to having broken even on their season tickets for this season.
Finally to underline the point that you just never know, thanks to hurricane force SW winds reaching over 100mph, the Cas Gunbarrel has filled in today, more than 3 weeks after the last significant snowfall over the Northern Cairngorms!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Winterhighland, I used to come over quite often from NI with school to train/race in Scotland and I loved it. I'd like to go this season but is it worth an 8ish hour drive, several hundred pounds and all the hassle for a couple of days? If the conditions were amazing I would be there but it just doesn't seem worth it at the moment.
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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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I am going on holdiay on the 21st and was hoping to get a couple of days in on cairngorm, glenshee etc before I go. Unfortunately this now seems unlikely. I have come to wonder whether it is worth the 3hour drive to the Lecht this week for some limited snowsports. Saying that, in recent years has it not been early march when the best of the seasons snowsport is to be had. Last march I went to Cairngorm and found snow as far as I could see with all slopes having full-width coverage, even most the fences were buried.
I wonder whether Snow cannons really are an option in Scotland. Surely it costs a fortune to run the things. Also there is the increasing possibility of going to Switzerland etc for a weekend on the cheap through EAsyjet, Ryanair.
I also wonder how the opeining of the Glasgow snowdome will affect Cairngorm etc early next season when conditions are less than perfect.
The wind is expected to kick up again early this week so hopefully it will blow in some more snow on the Northern Cairngorms.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Edmundh009, 21st is still 2 weeks away! Thats a lifetime in Scottish mountain weather!!
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Lets hope your right. I really would like to get some snow skiing before going away. Looking at the forecast up to thursday though there is little promising at the minute 
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Things may be on the change for the Glencoe and Nevis Range, both are expecting a snowfall tonight and tomorow, only problem is that it looks like it might rain tomorrow afternoon washing away some of that new snow. If it doesnt I think we can expect at Least Glencoe to open on wednesday or Thursday and possibly even Nevis Range too.
Thingh aren't loooking to good for Cairngorm at the moment
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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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Winterhighland, fair point. When we lived in Edinburgh (1973-83) we didn't usually start skiing at Cairngorm until mid-January. But almost always had good coverage over Easter; don't know if that's still the case.
As for snowmaking at Scottish resorts: I think it's a good thing - for resorts in Norway, thanks to those 100mph winds...
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Maybe I was spoilt with my first ever day on Cairngorm. It was 1974 - around 10 December - and I was in charge of a class of schoolkids. We caught the distinctive old sideways-on chairlift up to the Ptarmigan and wandered across (in some swirling mist) to the nice gentle slopes up there.
I remember the Coire Cas being in action at that time (but the gunbarrel unfilled), and the winter and snow coverage got progressively more thrilling from then onwards. The BASI course the following May (1975) enjoyed full use of the White Lady, Ciste chairlifts, Cas T-bar etc. etc. There was a huge amount of snow on the West Wall.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Had three great long weekends in successive years during the mid-nineties (1 at Glenshee, 2 at Caringorm) but on the fourth year there was insufficient snow for skiing so we headed South on the M6 instead of North and 11hrs later - Hey Presto! We were in Chamonix. Sadly, for Scotland, my team and I have never returned and probably never will.
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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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Admittedly some people prefer Chamonix to Cairngorm, but the grand dame of Scottish skiing has its virtues.
I'm ashamed to admit that I've never skied the headwall of the Coire Cas (avalanche risk always seemed a viable excuse), but it's always looked as if it had Chamonix-like qualities.
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I reckon the main problem with scottish skiing, at least any problem that they can do something about, is the lack of guaranteed snow cover - I was reading the forums on highland-instinct, and somebody had booked a week up in Scotland, yet now there is barely any skiing available! People like that are an exception, and proof that if snowcover was a little more reliable, then there definately is the possibility of more people planning similar trips. Having booked a trip to scotland to go skiing and not being able to, may well mean that this person, along with many others, will no longer bother! The income lost for the scottish ski industry and economy is the loss of all spending from this person throughout their lives, not just this one week of failed skiing... The recent diversification of the scottish centres has to be a good thing, but they must not forget thet skiing has the potential to be a very profitable industry, even in scotland.
Scottish resorts are not in the same league as the alps, but neither should they try to be. People will always go to bigger and better mountains for yearly ski holidays, but if they can ski close to home on the odd weekend throughout the year, people might well make the most of it, rather than waiting another full year until they can get onto the snow again. Even limited skiing would have ensured a massive amount of people over Christmas this year. Christmas holidays has to be the busiest time of year for all ski resorts worldwide, and the money lost from not being able to offer snowsports must be huge! There is something about the place where you learn to ski that always makes you want to go back there. If kids can no longer learn in scotland but learn in the Alps, scottish skiing may no longer compare (relatively) poorly to alpine skiing, but may not be put into comparison at all which is far worse!
Every day in the winter season that a resort can't open due to lack of snow is a blow to their reputation, and once people have bad impressions and stereotypical views on an area, it becomes very hard to change their minds. It will take a while to get paying customers back to the scottish mountains, but a decent snowmaking system at any of the centres is definately a step forward. Sometimes you need to take risks in order to get forward, now would the price of a decent snowmaking system be too big a risk, I don't know... Rather than reacting to the worsening(?) climatic conditions in a presently morose scottish ski industry, people need to act and take a lead.
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You know it makes sense.
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The climatic conditions - freeze/thaw, often high humidity - actually work against snow-making in Scotland. It's been experimented with quite a few times. As early as the mid-1960s a pioneering ski centre was built at Mar Lodge, five miles from Braemar, with its own snowmaking system (which must have been about the earliest in Europe) but the whole project failed.
The Lecht and Glenshee are the only mountains (to my knowledge) that use snowmaking, because they can capitalise on a drier more easterly airflow than the three other areas. The Lecht has been the most successful with it, but they're pouring out a lot of energy and expense on snow that may not hold, and provides only a little skiing.
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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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Like many others, i've grown up skiing in Scotland and have had some truly ace seasons, great to be able to ski the whole mountain at 'gorm or Glenshee where the variety is great on its day. There have been some pretty grim ones too, amazing how you remember the alpine days but chose to forget the ones when your face is being cut open by 70mph horizontal hail and grit standing in the nineth queue for the W Lady.
Unfortunately I now look at good days up here as a bonus and plan my main skiing abroad...I hope the ski centres manage to keep going..I think it will touch and go for a couple of them. At least Nevis and 'gorm have off season facilities which should mean they are around in the long term.
As to snowmaking, I think the limited set up at Glenshee and The Lecht is realistic given the financial pay back and the potential of the weather to undermine any efforts.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Snow making has advanced hugely in the 10years+ since the Lecht and Glenshee installed their limited systems. The Lecht actually has the base infrastructure for quite a large system, with hydrants and power points covering all of the Eagle, the Grouse, the beginner areas, the lower half of the Harrier and Falcon as well, however they only have a small number of rather old mobile cannons. If they had a cannon or two for every hook up, we'd potentially have been looking at a very different situation recently.
Power costs aside, manpower costs in running such a manual system would be huge too, so the way forward has got to be a modern, much more efficient high pressure system that is automated. A modern nozzle working under fairly high pressure could make snow in far more marginal conditions than the present systems in operation in Scotland could.
Costs aside, its worth looking at the more marginal of the Oz resorts, to see the difference large scale snow making can make. In various parts of the world, it's been deemed worthy of govt support to help Ski Areas invest in snow-making to support the local economy of remote areas. In the UK, the govt sees fit to be the only govt in the EU to charge VAT on the ski areas! While enforcing a tax policy on energy that makes it cheaper to travel to the Alps than travel from the North of England or even the Central Belt to the Highlands!!!!! Talk about a tax double whammy!
To those who say we used to ski in Scotland, or we ski abroad only now because the snows not reliable etc... The worst season on record for CairnGorm in terms of snow was 1998, yet that season offered up after Easter 10days of the best powder sport ever seen on the Gorm... watch the reports and be ready to pounce! There already has been several weeks of superb sport in Scotland this season, don't forget! The bottom line is USE IT OR LOSE IT!
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FAQ
