Scottish Ski Areas Pass 9 Year Old Attendance Record
Scottish Ski Areas Pass 9 Year Old Attendance Record
Published : 09-Mar-2010 02:03
Scotland's five mountain ski areas have been blessed not only by lots of snow this winter, but also more customers than any winter since 2001.Already they have passed 250,000 skier days and this is around two months before the season is expected to end. This total is 100,000 more than last season, which wasn't a bad one.
This is excellent news not only for the ski companies, but also for the surrounding areas, with the season so far estimated to have generated at least £25M for the Scottish economy, of which £20M will have been spent in nearby local businesses.
The pattern of business is also different this year, with a higher proportion of high-spending holiday visitors, as opposed to day visitors. Some areas report peak time accommodation bookings 500% higher than in previous seasons and tales of people even cancelling ski holidays abroad to take advantage of Scotland's wonderful deep snow cover, no money exchange worries, better value than the Euro zone, and friendly native English-speakers.
With the wind predominantly from the north east, snowfall has consistently loaded the east faces of the mountains, giving new pistes to ski and snowboard at all areas. Some of these runs have as yet not been named. At both Glencoe and Nevis Range, skiers and boarders have enjoyed sliding from the top lifts back to the lowest access points, which is pretty unusual.
Nevis Range Managing Director and ski-scotland member, Marian Austin, commented, "Unlike the ski areas in the east, we do not normally ski to our carpark, but this amazing snow cover, even at low level, has allowed us to offer skiing from 1,190m (3,900ft) down to 100m (330ft), which is about 4.5km, or close to 3 miles. As with Glencoe, the runs to the carpark are not pisted and are for experienced back country sliders – but what runs! With skiers well spread out across the mountain, our worst lift queues last weekend were around 30 people – so we've lots of space for more skiers and boarders!"
Although other parts of Britain are now beginning to look towards spring, in the Highlands there is more snow forecast, and the expectation is that there will still be excellent skiing and boarding at Easter, throughout April and even into May.
People who want to beat the Easter rush are recommended to find accommodation on the official website www.ski-scotland.com, where they can also check out conditions on real time webcams and ski area panorama.
"The snow this year has been fantastic with constant cold and great skiing conditions," added Pieter du Pon of the Lecht Ski Company. "Snow has just piled up week after week since before Christmas, with another metre falling in 36 hours last week. Now is the time try something different and make use of the Ski Scotland 5-day pass to try out all the ski centres, all with great conditions."
Courtesy of and © Snow24 plc
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