Edinburgh's big plastic slope gets a boost, and a new cafe

A snowHead

Opening today, a new cafe with balcony and panoramic views at Scotland's biggest artificial ski slope - Midlothian (which most people know as Hillend) near Edinburgh.

This report from The Scotsman.

Here's a quote from the article:

brian

Hillend just isn't the same since they moved the ski hire up the hill. The legendary wintertime off piste excursions in the dark down the neighbouring Lothianburn golf course are sadly no longer a feature Sad

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

Is the chairlift still there, brian?

I recall seeing a plaque at Hillend, explaining how the place came about (in 1965?) as a result of some very visionary thinking by the local authority. Don't know who's running the place now - do you?

brian

Yep, the chairlift is still there. It's doubled up by a tow and there's a shorter tow as well.

It's run by Midlothian council who inherited it from Lothian Region at the last local government re-organisation.

I haven't been up for years but it's where I learned to ski. Out of school, #44 and then #4 bus, hike up to the slope, chippy on the way home. You got a 3 month kids ticket for £12. Happy days.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Here's the website for the slope if anyone wants more details of the new facilities etc.

The slope always used to have a notoriously tricky (steep) top section, with a nasty bend. Don't know if it's more mellow now. I vaguely recall an alternative descent that was easier.

You'll need to Register first of course.

The top has not changed (at least not recently). There is only one way down, round the bend unless you go overland across the grass/heather (which can happen involuntarily if you dont get the bend quite right). It will be interesting to see how the cafe fares as they have not had one (if you discount the portacabin in the car park) for a few years. I assume it is subsidised as I believe the others never made money (or so I was told)

brian

Colin, in the dim and distant, there were 2 routes from the top, the "face" which is still there, and the "elbow" which went straight out from the chairlift past the top of the face and did a big loop round to rejoin the face on the opposite side from where the track from the old button tow comes in. The elbow had big speed bump style humps on it, I suspect that is what DG remembers.

For a short time they had a mat on the other side of the chair which went down to join the tow slope. The gradient on that one wasn't really steep enough, I think that's why they abandoned it pretty quickly. Not sure why they gave up the elbow though, unless for safety reasons, there was always the odd collision at the face/elbow junction.

After all it is free

brian, When was the ski hire not in the main building? It's years since I've been but I got my skis there, and the website shows it in the same place now.

brian

easiski, About 20 years ago ! It used to be in the huts, just where you turn in off the main road.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

My wife has not so fond memories of school ski lessons in the 70s when you picked up the skis where Brian says and carried them up the hill (often in the rain) to the slope.......not precisely the best start to skiing. That probably was the basis for the saying that "if you can ski at Hillend, you can ski anywhere". Real snow in a real resort (or even snow in Scotland) is a bit of a doddle after that !

Brian, you can still see where the mat used to be, even now

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Colin, the one and only time I skied it was in the 70's with that slog up hill. Good warm up, however. There was real snow in the diamonds of the dendrix. Excellent conditions - for an artifical slope.

Help!!

Edinburgh's big plastic slope gets a boost, and a new cafe

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