Snow snippets: Scottish update

4th April 2010, by Chris Gill

Not bad for April - Cairngorm Mountain

Easter weekend in Scotland will be remembered for a while: the crowds turned out to enjoy some of the best snow conditions for a decade, renewed with heavy snowfall in time for the holidays.

At Cairngorm Mountain, the resort was hit by further stormy weather last week that dumped another 30-40cm fresh powder across the whole ski area.  The area reported a mid-mountain snow base of over two metres – which it way ahead of some Alpine areas. Some snow loss has since been felt lower down the mountain this week though.

With a bluebird day on Good Friday, visitor numbers reached 2000 or more to enjoy the superb cover and fresh snow.  The weekend was busy too, with fantastic riding reported and most runs of full length, though high winds have affected uplift at times. To bask in its good fortune, the resort opened for evening skiing on Thursday (8 April) – keeping lifts running to 7.30pm – and plans to open until 3 May, perhaps with weekend offerings beyond then should the snow remain skiable. In fact, turnout has been so good the ski hire shop ran out of rental equipment on Thursday - oops!

Cairngorm has also just held the last in its season Highlander/Lowlander events, a freestyle competition. Conditions in the terrain park were pretty much perfect, with plenty of snow to shape the jumps and kickers.

Nevis Range also had a super snowy Easter weekend, though it was spoiled by heavy rain on Monday/Tuesday. Some lower runs are now broken as a result, but there is still good skiing on the upper mountain and in Goose Gully. Over at Glenshee, many runs are complete with soft spring snow though becoming thin and patchy low down; only nine lifts are open at present, serving Sunnyside, Meall Odhar and Glas Maol. Similar conditions can be found at the Lecht too, though most runs and lifts are open there.

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