 Poster: A snowHead
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ACCORDING to scientists, snowsports in Scotland will almost certainly die out within the next 70 to 80 years because of global warming.
At the conference of the Association of Scottish Visitor Attractions in Crieff last year, John Mayhew, a climatologist with the Met Office's Hadley Centre for Climate Change, predicted that there will be between 90 and 100 per cent less snowfall in Scotland by the year 2080.
In 2004, Adam Watson, of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in Banchory, Aberdeenshire, made an even more drastic analysis, warning that the industry might have only 20 years left.
Scotland's five ski areas, Cairngorm, Glenshee, Nevis Range, Glencoe and The Lecht, have experienced a substantial decrease in the number of skier visits since the late 1980s and early 1990s.
In Cairngorm and Glenshee, the largest resorts, the reduction has been dramatic. The two hills received 348,000 and 166,000 skier visits respectively in 1986, but by the 2005-6 season, those figures had plummeted to 55,200 and 42,460.
As well as decreasing snowfall, the slump is also partly due to the explosion in budget air travel, which suddenly made ski breaks to the Alps much more affordable. |
The whole article is here:
http://heritage.scotsman.com/news.cfm?id=1556252007
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Oh dear - another doom and gloom merchant who conveniently neglected to mention that the title of the article is actually :-
SCOTLAND'S ski resorts believe they could be in line for a bumper year as the first snowflakes of the season fell on Scottish mountains yesterday.
Check out www.winterhighland.com for the real pictures of skiing in Scotland this year and last.
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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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It's only good if you live there. Had a bad experience last year. For the same money I could of had a week in Soll
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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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Would I go back?
Yes, of course, still want to experience Scotland in epic conditions. Just very difficult to plan.
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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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Snow is so emotive and symbolic, thus killing of Scottish Snowsports is very much 'on message' thus future public investment seems unattainable. Contrast the situation to Australia where the ski areas have through both private and public funding made the investments, where Thredbo lifted the average number of days skiable to base from just 19 to over 100 on the Supertrail, where the climate is arguably more difficult than Scotland, and where thanks to the ongoing investment the market is growing.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I agree that you have to check conditions carefully and booking ahead is a bit risky - however - i booked ahead for France last year and was skiing on brown slopes for the first 3 days - so its not just Scotland that can have this problem.
With regards to public funding - it seems strange that so much 'public' money is pumped into things like a national tennis academy and national swimming academy which are only for a chosen 'few' yet public facilities are neglected.
For info there are plenty of things that could be done to help without needing large amounts of cash - e.g. there is a difference in VAT applied to snowsports in the UK compared with our European neighbours - so its not even a level playing field (or piste!)
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OK, maybe i misunderstood something... but I thought that once the polar caps melt that the currents would shift and we would be back in an ice age?
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Timmaah, the fact is that no one knows that for sure. And it's the same with Scottish skiing, but on an almost daily basis. Even when conditions are good, it's not that good compared to the Alps. It's not the fault of the media or even the scgb, it's all down to the weather and cheap flights putting a million or so southern based skiers within pissing distance of the Alps.
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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, not sure, having skiied at Thredbo, that the condtions are comparable. I suspect there is less wind and better visibility at Thredbo - with the protection by the trees helping too. The season certainly maybe shorter there. But Thredbo also has a great little base village in close proximity to the slopes.
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There was some vastly better stuff in The Guardian on Saturday.
I've posted details and links on the Ad for Scotland as winter sports wonderland stirs up protest thread here
I said it there and I'll say it again here, I'm struck by the irony that it takes an English based newspaper to give the facts and be fair about Scottish snowsports whilst all some of the Scottish press can do is carp and spread misinformation.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Even when conditions are good, it's not that good compared to the Alps. It's not the fault of the media or even the scgb, it's all down to the weather and cheap flights putting a million or so southern based skiers within pissing distance of the Alps.
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Rubbish, when its good in Scotland its as good as any skiing I've done in the Alps - last time it was good was the 2005/6 season, so not that long ago. One of the things that is killing Scottish skiing is the drip drip drip of press reports saying that scottish skiing is dead. This leads to poor skier numbers even when the skiing is good.
Remember the main market for the sottish ski resorts isn't people coming for a weeks holiday its "locals" who live within 2-3hrs drive at the most, coming for day trips and perhaps people living a bit further away driving up for a weekend when conditions are good. The problem is that with all these reports even locals are mistakenly beleiving there is no skiing in Scotland and aren't even checking websites like www.winterhighland.info to see what conditions are really like. This means that the areas can be very quiet even when conditions are good. This is especially true in March and April which is often when conditions are best in Scotland.
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In Cairngorm and Glenshee, the largest resorts, the reduction has been dramatic. The two hills received 348,000 and 166,000 skier visits respectively in 1986, but by the 2005-6 season, those figures had plummeted to 55,200 and 42,460.
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Note the snow in 05/06 was absolutely brilliant, though it came late, with decent conditions only arriving from February. However I did my last days lift served sking on may 7th that year! The problem isn't always the lack of good snow, its the lack of people when there is good snow.
Three pictures of Cairngorm from early March 06 to show the conditions.
http://www.winterhighland.info/forum/file.php?2,file=2557
http://www.winterhighland.info/forum/file.php?2,file=2558
http://www.winterhighland.info/forum/file.php?2,file=2559
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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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| Dave Horsley wrote: |
Rubbish, when its good in Scotland its as good as any skiing I've done in the Alps
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Well, comparing the best few turns in one with the best few turns in the other, yes. But as holidays you can't compare with the best Alpine skiing. The Scottish areas, even at their occasional peak, are very restricted compared with all but the smallest Alpine resorts.
Or are you talking about touring?
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You know it makes sense.
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Just what I hope to do some weekend the coming season.
But surely you wouldn't compare the huge descents in La Grave or Engelberg with the tiny ones in Scotland - however good the Flypaper or back of Nevis may be for a couple of hundred yards.
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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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Yeah - La Grave is great. Don't get me wrong - we had a great week under La Meije, ticking off descents like the Trifide and Banana colouir.
However *some* of the best days skiing I have experienced have honestly been up at Glencoe.
Skiing the Flypaper, Spring Run and Baillies in boot deep fresh... Its does sometimes happen.
You just need to watch the weather forecast to know when 
Last edited by Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name: on Mon 1-10-07 14:28; edited 1 time in total
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brian
brian
Guest
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snowball, nail, head, imo.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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snowball, Piste skiing in Engelberg feels a lot like Scotland, you get plenty of locals up from Lucerne.
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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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snowball,
As I said Scotlands market isn't really the 1 week holiday skier, its the local out for a days skiing or someone coming for a shortbreak over the weekend, probably organised and booked at the last minute.
I've skiied for something like 13 years, and lived and skied in Scotland for the last 10 or so years. I've done at least one weeks skiing abroad (usually France) every year since I took up skiing, and I've had some very good days. However, honestly, some of my best days have been here in Scotland, some touring and some lift served. For example there was a day at Glenshee when they'd run a piste basher down the right hand side of the Coire Fione lift - there was a concave piste basher track that had filled in with drifted powder and more drifted powder outside the track. Great sking the powder and getting air off the ridge of snow left by the piste machine.
Or skiing the East lady loaded with (initialy) untracked powder, sometime around when the photos I've linked to above, were taken.
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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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| Quote: |
| But surely you wouldn't compare the huge descents in La Grave or Engelberg with the tiny ones in Scotland - however good the Flypaper or back of Nevis may be for a couple of hundred yards. |
Is obsession with size a British thing? I think there was actually a thread on that not that long ago.... There seems to be something of a mindset here in the UK to compare everything against the relatively small number of resorts with mega vertical in the Alps.
The lifted vertical on the front side of Kirkwood CA is 1650ft, the same as the Cas side of CairnGorm Mountain. Anyway how many of the people on here would actually ski the full vertical on CairnGorm without stopping, let alone 3 or 4000ft of vertical?? Serious question, I don't think lifted vertical is the be all and end all (though the marketing department of certain resorts love you to believe it is).
Given the choice of either going on holiday for 2 weeks to ski or being able to ski regularly throughout the season at least a couple of times a week (on average), I'd always choose the later if it had to be one or other. 
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