I am probably done with Hillend

A snowHead

I thought I'd share my thoughts about Hillend, in case anyone is planning a trip there and are interested.

I have been going at least once a week this year for practice, as well as some private lessons.

Good points:

The instructors are good, generally speaking

Good length of slopes

What's not so good:

It doesn't seem to matter when you go, there will be large groups of kids. Generally they are often bad for skipping the line (not their fault, they are kids) but they are not told by accompanying adults not to.

The lift infrastructure is old, slow and not fit for capacity

It's expensive. When you consider 2 hours at Hillend is about £26 and you can use an indoor snowdome for a whole day for a few quid more.

The surface is inconsistent. You'll be flying down and then hit a dry/overgrown part and deceleration happen quickly.

The misting system isn't on most of the time and do not cover the whole area

Reception staff lack customer service skills (it's a council facility, but it still relies on paying customers)

I feel this is all something which could be improved with proper management. Unfortunately all of the investment seems to have gone on the alpine coaster.

A snowHead

>>When you consider 2 hours at Hillend is about £26 and you can use an indoor snowdome for a whole day for a few quid more.<<
Well, you can't though as the nearest one is about 5 hours a way at best and a 2 hour lift pass is £42.30 or about 1/3 more expensive, 6 hours is £56.70 which to be fair is not bad.

I go there 2-3 times a week, very rarely go when there are large groups of kids. They run lessons, the times of which are pretty obvious from their website, so look at that and then go when there are gaps. For example 1pm on a Sunday is usualy deathly quiet.

>>The lift infrastructure is old, slow and not fit for capacity
Yep it's old (Hillend is 60 this year btw), it's slow and its not fit for capacity about 1% of the time, so don't go then NehNeh

Misting system is bounded by a council consent for water usage and at the moment they can't use it much. FWIW it was incredibly close to closing forever not that long ago so it gets by on very minimal council funding. It wouldn#t survive as a commercial operation in its current state and the investment to improve it would be hard to come by. The original masterplan was £33m which included a lot of improvement work but that was cut to £11m and some has gone on the new road. Alpine coaster more than paying for itself btw.

The jump slope is good, needs a jetwash to be fair to get the moss out. The rest of the matting is mostly alright, it's very hard to manage the grass growth in the summer and there's a few bits that re a bit inconsistent. But then, what do you expect. It's quite a lot of slope relatively compared to other dry slopes 'nearby' (well, not that nearby to be fair).

Don't get me wrong, i agree to some extent but I think you have to set your expectations of what a dry slope is, but we also have to consider that it's easy to get to, relatively affordable and excellnt for getting people moving on skis and without it there are very few viable options.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

I learned to ski at Hillend so have a soft spot for it, despite the drawbacks of plastic.

Its never been perfect, but it is a great place for schoolkids to learn before hitting the real stuff.

As for using a snowdome for a whole day, Manchester (the closest one to Hillend, I think?) is about £30 an hour, and thats without factoring in the travel !

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Perhaps I am wrong about the price. Last time I went to SnowZone was the quiet season and I am sure it was £30 for the day. It was a really good facility. Shame the one in Glasgow closed

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Glasgow SnowZone shut down because it didn’t make any money, which tells you quite a lot about the economics of skiing in Scotland. The groups of kids at Hillend are probably what keeps it open, so you really just have to accept that they’re there.

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I have not been to Hillend for maybe 5 years but I would be very sad to see it go.

I learnt there & if you can ski there you can ski anywhere, I think it is a real asset to Edinburgh

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@Valkyrie, not making money was not the whole story for the Glasgow slope (I worked there for 16 years) nevertheless it was at the core of the problem. It is clear that Hillend runs on a shoestring and if people want to keep it they need to support it in what ever way they can. When I worked at Braehead I and others used to do additional unpaid work to help the business, as I had done working at the Halifax and Sheffield dry slopes in the past. A currently successful model of funding and management is the dry slope at Newmillns. It is hard to believe that there is not enough snow sports interest and volunteering capacity around the south of Edinburgh to sustain Hillend. But, perhaps there isn’t and the consequences will be clear. Is it really the responsibility of local authorities to maintain a facility for a niche sport no matter how much we are addicted to it?

After all it is free

@Ski lots, until you mentioned it I'd never heard of that Newmilns slope, but from their website it does look very impressive what they've achieved. Hillend could maybe be run as a charity but it'd probably need to scale back in size to be viable.

@Valkyrie, agreed.

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Best time to visit Hillend is on a damp drizzly day / evening.
The matting is then consistently damp and a lot of people don't want to be out in the damp.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Well it is currently a very damp drizzly day and from where I am sitting I look out on Hillend. I cannot see the bottom of the slope but the top half appears to be completely empty!
The whole family learnt there in 1987, sons went on to complete at World Cup level in mogul skiing and snowboard racing - they were also instructors for several years. Mrmogulski and I ran the local school ski club and taught pupils there for 20 years. I have not been on the slope since I retired almost 17 years ago.
I ski in 3V several weeks each winter so why would I pay £26 for 2 hours on Hillend when with my veteran season pass I ski 3V for around £10 a day?
I do hope it survives though. The problem is that it is in Midlothian not Edinburgh so Midlothian has to foot the bills. It really went down once it was run by staff who also ran libraries and swimming pools rather than being run by people like Hans Kuvall.

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I think we can all agree one thing, it's a fantastic facility to get people on skis and give them the experience. Some may not be able to, or have the means to, ever get to snow outside Scotland so this is really the next best thing. It's not really fantastic if you are a competent skiier except for when you may wish to do some drill practice or race. Its alright for both those things. I must live near you mogulski as its just up the road from me.

this chat has got me in the mode to go, I wish I had my boots at home.

You know it makes sense.

Skied it one weekend back in 1991. School ski team qualified for a competition. Travelled over from Belfast. Really enjoyed the weekend even though I got very sea sick on the way over. Best dry slop i have skied (0nly skied on 4)

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

A snowHead

I go every so often with my kids and occasionally myself

The group lessons must be what's keeping it going so I am accepting of that. I've found the kids to be very courteous in the lines. The instructors should send them up the slow/wee tow if they are only going a short way up though

Timing is everything - to avoid the lessons and ideally go after a rain shower. I agree it can be sticky otherwise

It is what it is and with chances to go skiing up north in the winter less regular these days it is a decent way to get a bit of practice in (and then when you hit proper snow, the joy of that cf the mats)

A snowHead

One warning for those who go infrequently, if you have your own boots and they are gripwalk they don't have any compatible bindings at the moment. So take your own skis or prepare for boot hire Laughing

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

I am seeing lots of reels about it at the moment, I think it is 60 years old this month.

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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

I think its a great facility, ok it’s starting to get a bit rough around the edges, but upgrades cost money, and the council will be stretched as it is.

The kids classes are amazing though, my daughter has done all kinder classes and is waiting until she’s old enough to join in the proper kids classes (6yr) but she loves going out there and having a ski about.

with all ski infrastructure in scotland- either use it or lose it! thats why I make a point of getting up north when I can in winter. conditions/ snow might be marginal, but I know the centres need the income and I want these places to survive.

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I did not realise there were so many Snowheads in Edinburgh and even more in the wider area!
@orange yes we must be close neighbours.

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Perhaps we should arrange a social !

After all it is free

Finlay Mickel on Hillend https://www.facebook.com/reel/1103928078483884

I think Hillend will have some sort of event on the actual Birthday. Perhaps the local snowheads should all turn up wearing our Snowhead buffs?

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Ah, great memories!

I started skiing at Hillend in the mid 80s, when the ski hire was in a hut at the bottom of the hill. We used to get the bus across town, pick up kit, then slog up the road to the slope. I'm sure it was close, but I was only wee, it felt like a mile! Sometimes in the snow we skied down to return the kit (and never hoped the fence to ski the golf course and pull spreadies out of the bunkers, honest.)

Ended up training with LSRA. I remember Finlay Mickel, more by name - I skied with his older brother Ross, and Emma Carrick-Anderson, before they all got better than me and moved up to Hans Kuwall's group. I think I skied under him a few times - 200 short swings for warm up!

I don't remember a misting system but do remember the mist, and the big blocks of paraffin wax that we used to rub our skis on before throwing ourselves down the Face, trying to avoid (unsuccessfully on at least a couple of occasions) taking a trip to hospital with Hillend Thumb! Must be what gave me a taste for the steeps.

Prices have gone up too. It was only £1 a hour back in those days! My paper round paid for the bus up, a ski and an orange pop in those crinkly cartons.

Hopefully I'll get to take my lad there one day but we're south of the border these days.

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As for bindings... GripWalk? You were lucky. We used plate bindings where they locked on to the boot and if you fell a sprung plunger let the who boot fixing come away from the ski. It was still attached to the ski with a little wire, so the ski would clatter you to bits as you rolled down the hill. Amazing a thumb or two was all I broke!

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That brought back memories, I forgot that the hut was originally at the bottom of the road.
I vaguely remember skiing down to it once

Our school would have a Wednesday evening trip to Hillend during the Winter months.
Great memories of there being snow on the hill and skiing 'off-piste'.
Sadly this all stopped when the teaching union stopped taking part in extra curricular activities.

Skied at Hillend last year when my eldest was taking lessons and found skiing on the matting terrifying.

You know it makes sense.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

[quote="SarahRad"]

A snowHead

I'm trying to think, I reckon I did Thursdays from P4 to P6, so a coupole of years before you I reckon.

I never did Lagganlia, my older sister did though. I did the winter racing at Glenshee, where Emma Carrick Anderson used to wipe the floor with me (not literally!)

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

As soon as it rained I was begging to be allowed to get the bus up there!

Help!!

I am probably done with Hillend

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