 Poster: A snowHead
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SO, Mrs NBT and I aren't going to get our customary jaunt to the european mainland htis year, but idle chat last night turned to the thoughts of driving up to Scotland. I've always hankered after skiing in scotland, but the advice always seems to be "don't count on skiing, just get up there on short notice when conditions are good". Sadly that isn't possible, so we'd have to look at booking somewhere and either travelling to different resorts to chase the good snow, or doing something else. As keen MTBers, we would probably take bikes as well as skis, then we can go riding if the snow is lacking,
so, given that, where should we look to base ourselves? When we did an MTB trip, we stayed at Slochd Mhor just outside Aviemore, which was a g great place, and fairly handy for the MTB trail centres we visited to the east and north, with trips to fort william and laggan on the outbound and return journeys. Staying there again gives us easy-ish access to Cairngorm for skiing, and reasonable access to the MTB centres. Can anyone recommend anywhere else that would offer similar access? We're happy to look at hostels or holiday cottages: we're hoping to keep the price down but would need a private room and preferably cooking facilities, so cottages (especially if we can persuade friends to share) seem to offer better value
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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nbt, I see you haven't had much of a response to this so might be an idea to ask the question on Winterhighland too.
In terms of location I think Aviemore or the area around Aviemore is probably the best - from there you camn reasonably easily get to most of the Scottish ski areas apart from Glenshee which is a bit of a longer drive.
Hope that's some help 
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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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nbt, Staying in Aviemore puts you 15 minutes from Cairngorm and about 1 hour from the Lecht and Nevis Range ....
Fort William puts you 15 minutes from Nevis Range 30 minutes from Glencoe and just over an hour from Cairngorm....I'm not great on my mountain bikeing but the are lots of XC trails at Nevis Range and at Wolftrax which is mid way between Aviemore and Fort William...
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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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again i cant really offer to much help im afraid but when i skied scotland we stayed in aviemore and skiied cairngorm and also the lecht (dont bother going here) the roads were great even after a heavy snowfall apart from the last mile up to the resorts, still got up there though. so, i would stay in aviemore if i were you. type in google "littleholidayhousesscotland" and they have some great bargains on 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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How far in advance are you looking to book? If only a few weeks, then you'll have a reasonable idea of what conditions might be like, but if you are taking about booking now for Easter then there is no way you can predict what will be happening then.
If you are booking quite close, then by all means book in the Fort Bill/Aviemore corridor - one of them should be open. But if you are booking more in advance, then I'd be inclined to go for one of the more major centers, such as Inverness or Perth: both of which are within striking distance of the ski areas, but have other possibilities not that far away if the snow is too marginal.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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nbt, why not take your bikes and stay at the same place, covers most possibilities then?
Or Fort William is a good base IMHO, lots of B&Bs/hotels to choose from, a small village to wander around and Nevis + Glencoe (my favourite area) closeby, whilst still being able to drive to Cairngorm if East is best.
cheers,
Greg
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kitenski, that's the plan.
RobW, thanks but the FB / Aviemore corridor offers a better flexibility than a major population centre. We'd probably look to book soon, for february time.
II, I've ridden the XC courses at fort william and the trails at laggan, both will be on the list of alternative venues. One or two trails at each though rather than lots
Ricklovesthepowder, thanks, that's the kind of recommendation that i was looking for
Thanks for the replies folks, doesn;t look like anyone's come up with anything significantly more precise than the plan I came up with, though, I'd hoped for recommendations of specific places to rent, perhaps my original question was badly phrased
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Tomintoul.............
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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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nbt,
One caveat that I would have about Littleholidayhouses is they act as agents.
We rented a house via them that was filthy and it cost a considerable amount of money. Although we ended up moving out they refused any refund as the contract was with the owner who initailly agreed a refund and then refused.
My mother who had rented it was considerably ou of pocket.
PS Cottages 4 U had a decent selection last year, we found an excellent place but nowhere near the ski centres unfortunately.
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brian
brian
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nbt, we rented Red Kite cottage a couple of years ago with my in-laws. Really nice but not particularly cheap. Nethybridge is a nice wee village though.
http://www.cairngorm-executive.com/
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brian
brian
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... or this one is also nice, although it's in a residential street in Aviemore it has a great view out the back to the gorms.
http://www.theowlhouseaviemore.co.uk/index.php
and you get to use the pool/sauna etc. at the Macdonald hotel in Aviemore (about a mile away). Again it's maybe more an option if you're splitting the cost with friends.
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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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If you book www.holidayinaviemore.co.uk and mention Snowheads you will get 5% discount peak weeks (school hols) and 10% off peak. Also has use of the pool/leisure suite at the MacDonald Aviemore Highland Hotel.
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