Snow brought some bumper skiing to Highlands
Last winter’s phenomenal snowfall in the Scottish mountains brought good results for the country’s ski resorts and, as a result, the surrounding areas, says Ski-Scotland.
The season resulted in 235,303 “skier days” across the five mountain ski resorts.
Using current data, the result was worth around £23.7m to the Scottish economy.
Of this, £4.7m was spent at the ski areas themselves, with the remaining £19m spent in local businesses – accommodation, places to eat and drink, shops, filling stations, etc.
“Back at the end of January, there was deeper snow on most of Scotland’s upper pistes than there was in world-renowned resorts in the Alps, Pyrenees and even the Rockies,” said Chair of Ski-Scotland Heather Negus.
“In fact, some pistes in the Highlands were twice as deep as those overseas – and the snow kept on coming and coming!”
Although no one would ever complain there was too much snow, with tows constantly buried by snowdrifts, many ski area staff spent longer digging out chairlifts and tow huts than they did selling tickets and operating lifts, resulting in fewer operational days for most ski areas.
However, perhaps due to the ‘Olympic effect’, customers turned out in their thousands when the resorts were open, ensuring that the season was a good one.
She added: “With only 441 operational days across the five resorts last winter and spring, we had on average 534 skiers per day. Bearing in mind that some of the best ‘bluebird’ days were working days for most people, that is an excellent average.”
