Cairngorm or Glenshee? which one to choose

A snowHead

I am after some help. We are looking at getting away for a few days and had initally hoped to go to somewhere in Europe but that is now out of the question and we have decided to go up to Scotland (without the kids Shocked

)

Anyway, I have been looking at both Aviemore and Glenshee and cant decide.

This will be our 4th week skiing and we prefer more "cruising around" to "phew I made it down in one piece" type of skiing so just wondering which one will suit us best. Nightlife is not a big issue but it would be nice to be able to go to a bar or something during the evening but is not essential.
Also we will be hiring skis and have no roof rack so wondered what happens with skis that you hire? If we take the car to the resort car park, is there somewhere we can leave the skis or do we have to bring them back every night (which will prove difficult without the roof rack), also how busy will it be the first week in March (given that both UK and scotland schools should be back behind their desks wink

Are ther regular busses up from either aviemore to cairngorm or glenshee and do they only run at certain times?

Thanks for your help.

A snowHead

Cairngorm ticks the boxes and also try and get across to Nevis as well if conditions are good.

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

Hi Polo99,

I'm just back from a weekend at Glenshee with my wife.

Unfortunately the slopes were closed on Saturday as the road was closed at the Spittal due to too much snow overnight. Sunday we got to ski all day, although it was very busy, and the visibility was very poor. I think the crowding was due to other resorts being closed, and everyone making their way to Glenshee for the fresh snow. I doubt it will be as crowded in March, especially midweek. I think visibility will probably be better then too but, well its Scotland so no guarantees

We stayed in a hotel called Bridge of calley which is about 15m south of the slopes. Theres nothing else around it really, however we had a great time there. The owner and staff are very friendly, and there were a few families, couples and singles there as well and everyone chatted (and drank) the Saturday away. Blairgowrie is only a 10 min drive away too. The hotel isnt exactly 5 star but it is nice, good food, comfortable settees around the bar area - and comfortable beds. All in all, we would go back to it again if we go back up. Very homely. i think we paid £75 per night which included breakfast (I think). breakfasts were good too.

The other thing that might help is that there is a ski/boot hire portacabin in the car park. We collected our gear on friday evening ready to shoot straight up on Saturday, but as it was cancelled we just kept the stuff out and went straight up on Sunday with it. We were obviously only charged for one day as well. the fellow who runs its a nice enough guy and quite helpful. I think it was £18 per day for the poles boots and skis.

I cant really comment if the ski's are great condition or not really as I dont know much about them (and the more I read on here the more confused I'm getting

), certainly they seemed no worse than some stuff i've had before - but thats probably not a recommendation.

As for fitting the skis in your car, well we took a Megane hatchback up and fitted the kit in no problems with the back seats down. Still had enough room for all our personal kit as well as a child seat we forgot to remove, as we came straight back off the slopes, dropped the hire kit off (hello, heres your kit back. Thanks. goodbye) in about 2 minutes and were off home.

hope this helps.

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If you base yourself in Braemar you're more likely to get to Glenshee Ski Centre on any given day as the road is easier to clear from the North. There is ski hire at Glenshee next to the ticket office so you can pick up and leave your gear there.
If Glenshee is stormbound you can drive about 45 mins North to the Lecht. It's great for beginners and early intermediates. There's ski hire on-site too.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Go to Nevis and Glencoe.

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If you are renting at the ski centre then get there early. Very early!

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Whitegold, did you see this bit - we prefer more "cruising around" to "phew I made it down in one piece" !!

You can cruise around most of the Glenshee area on a combination of blue and greens, but some of the blue's aren't exactly Alpine style 6 lane motorways. At CairnGorm you can do top to bottom entirely on greens if you wish. Given your criteria I'd say let the weather and snow decide, if your taking a car you could consider Newtonmore or even Dalwhinne as a base and keep your options open between Glenshee and CairnGorm.

If you'd rather use the bus to the slopes then it has to be CairnGorm and stay in Aviemore. There is an hourly service up and down from the mountain with the last bus down at 4.40pm.

After all it is free

Many thanks for all your responses.

I had originally thought that we would go to Glenshee, but then looked at the piste maps and decided on Aviemore. I have been to both many many moons ago but cant remember what they were like apart from thinking that Aviemores runs were much harder than Glenshee but like I say, a long time ago. have no visual memory of either.

ON looking at places to stay I had thought about the international starters place and it was working out about £250 for 3 nights. Is this about standard price?

So getting to the slopes is going to be much easier going in the car than taking the bus but what I am worried about is what will happen if we get there and there are no parking spaces left? will we have to go back to the apartment and make our own way there?

Also our car does not have snow chains, will this be a problem?

It seems there are a lot of things to do in Aviemore if the pistes are closed ie cinema, swimming pool, eating out etc but is there anything near Glenshee? how big is the town of Braemar? and would this be the best place to stay?

Thanks in advance (again)

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If you gave me a straight choice between Cairngorm and Glenshee, then all other things being equal, I'd choose Glenshee every time. Because:

(1) Parking seems less of an issue: - Getting stuck in the overflow car park at Cairngorm seems to consign you to a long wait in a queue for the bus up, followed by another queue for the lift pass office, followed by another queue for the funicular. If you don't have enough snow to ski all the way down ("Ciste Gully" I think it's called) then you're looking at another bus back down to the car park at the end of the day. Disclaimer: that is based on weekend experience in March 2010, things may have changed since then. However, having ski'd on the weekend at Glenshee recently, the worst that happened was that we had maybe 200m further to walk to the lifts than on the weekdays.

(2) Fewer bottlenecks and annoying lifts: - I found the combination of Funicular and T-bars at Cairngorm to be extremely tiring on my legs and mostly unavoidable. Now Glenshee isn't exactly miles better, but they have at least one chairlift which gives your legs a rest, with a majority of button lifts, which I find a lot less wearing than T-Bars. Boarders may well have different preferences...

(3) Bit more variety and feeling of travelling: - I preferred the scenery and the spread-out-ness of glenshee

(4) Braemar-Glenshee is a nicer journey than Aviemore-Cairngorm for my money.

Having said all that, I'm still really keen to try Nevis and Glencoe, it's just at the time we went this year the East had way better snow so we went for Glenshee (and the Lecht too, which was actually pretty nice).

thanks for your replies.

I am being slowly swayed to Glenshee. Hubby and I absolutely hate hustle bustle so the thought of having to wait in queues does not sound good, hence the reason we take the kids out of school to go skiing and we are chosing to go to Scotland on a weekday and not the weekend. It is hard to tell how packed it will be on a good weekday at Scotland as I have not had any experience of it. Will it be deserted? or really busy?

So, if I decide to stay in Glenshee a few questions come up:

1. Is it possible to drive (without snowchains or winter tyres) up to the resort
2. is there enough parking usually?
3. where is the nearest large town offereing you the usual cinema, macdonalds, pubs etc

thanks again for your help

You know it makes sense.

polo99, It will probably be really quiet midweek but it is several years since I have been to Glenshee on a weekday.

Some answers:

1. Yes.
2. Yes
3. Aberdeen, though there are pubs in Braemar.

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

quiet on a weekday outside of school hols for both, even on bluebird pow days where fair enough it gets a bit busier, but nothing like the weekends. Aviemore is best bet by far for off-slope activities, both indoors and outdoors. Inverness 30miles north of aviemore has all the facilities of a small city, shopping etc., but really you would have more than you need in aviemore. If that dont make much odds to you then you'll have a great time at either given equal conditions.

A snowHead

A snowHead

polo99, there is a cinema in Aviemore in the Aviemore Highland Resort. No McD's in Aviemore, but a huge variety of eating options, if you want burgers, give Roo's Leap at the station a go. Two decent Chip Shops, though general opinion seems to rate the Happy Haggis higher these days. It's just under 30miles from Aviemore to Inverness.

Mid week next week crowds are very unlikely to be an issue, yes numbers will go up somewhat if there is a perfect blue sky day, but not to anything like half term levels! Appreciate you might want to stay in one place, but I'd be tempted to stay around Aviemore for a few days, then one or 2 nights somewhere nearer Glenshee and take in both. See how things are shaping up weather wise by Friday when the colder weather returns.

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

To get an idea of the queues midweek why not try and guage it from the webcams.

I looked at them a lot prior to going up and the biggest queues I saw was about a max of 5-10 people midweek, although the weather wasn't great. I'd expect it to be busier if the weathers good, but nothing like last weekend with some queues of 100.

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polo99, we have visited both cairngorm and glenshee every year for the past 6-7 years and for what is worth, cairngorm would be my first choice as it is nearer to the whole "package" when it comes to a snow holiday. ie accommodation not too far from the slopes, some sort of apre ski and things to do when conditions are not favourable.
i would agree with other posters that glenshee probs has the edge for varied terrain and the bonus of chairlifts (when they are running) but it is all down to personal preference and what you are looking for out of your trip, and for me cairngorm/aviemore would JUST win Cool

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

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mugen, me too. Happy Haggis is nicer to go and have a sit down meal, with booths at the window and table cloths and you can have a beer etc., but I always prefer the fish and chips at smiffys (across from tesco). lots of research done before reaching that conclusion Laughing

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Off topic but nevermind, I really miss the Smiffy's in Grantown, it was fantastic for a sit down meal.

After all it is free

Ive been looking at the webcam of glenshee and from what I can see, there seems to be lots of icy bald patches on the slopes. Is this the condition at the min?

dont rely too much on the webcams, certainly not on their own. They can only give a limited view of the situation simply based on the fact they're restricted as to where they can be placed. For sure there's been a thaw in the last day or two with high warm winds, but between the fences and in the natural gulleys will still be fine as a sizeable bases has been built over the winter. Keep an eye on the trip reports on Winterhighland etc and use these also with the webcams and weather conditions etc to get a more rounded view.

Still plenty of season to go Very Happy

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Cairngorm or Glenshee? which one to choose

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