Skiing in Scotland

Jill and I have been touring around England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland for a month.   During the third week of May, we had a cold front move through Scotland, and we could see snow in the Scotland Highlands.  We were in Edinburgh, and from the Castle I could see in the distance the slopes of the Midlothian Snowsports Center which has a dry ski slope, i.e. an artifical ski slope.

As we drove north, the snow was coming down and a few passes were closed.  The 5 ski areas in Scotland are Nevis Range, Glencoe, Glenshee, Cairngorm and Lecht.  We could see Nevis Range, near Fort Williams, from the highway which had rain and clouds, but there was still snow on some slopes.  The area opened a new gondola on December 2012.  We also passed Glencoe which is lower and east of Fort William.  More information on the areas is at:http://ski.visitscotland.com.

Zap & Jill

Nice Zap, that has got be a beautiful sight. I too have toured Scotland and then over to the Lake district. Now that's some awesome country!!!

Here's a pic of the castle from 1988. Man does that seem like a long time ago.

Wasn't it the quality of the skiing, or was it the food, that caused Chris to leave Scotland?

Nothing wrong with Scottish food, as long as you only need to it maraud and pillage.

I have personally skied at three of the areas you mention, Glencoe, Glenshee and at Aviemore in the Cairngorms. The Nevis area was not open when I lived in Scotland which was 25 years ago although I climbed extensively on Ben Nevis and Glencoe when I was a student in Glasgow.

It was a long time ago but I remember the skiing experience being somewhat wet, windy, wild, foggy and somewhat snow starved due to low elevations. That being said, when the storms came in, climbing in what they called "full conditions" on Ben Nevis was quite an adventure.

I grew up far north of those areas ina small village called Brora in the NE Highlands. I started going to Glencoe and the "Ben" when I was 15 and would think nothing of hitchhiking from Brora to Glencoe every weekend and back again in time for school.  Different times.

Thanks for the memories and I'll have a haggis supper with chips ( french fries to you Yankees) if you can bring me one back from the the local "chip shop".

Aviemore does not sound like a place I want to go skiing. Are there runs there called Search and Rescue, Beacon Ally or Slide Path?