Scottish Ski Area Ends Season Early
Scottish Ski Area Ends Season Early
Published : 10-Mar-2025 07:09
One of Scotland's five ski centres, The Lecht, has announced that its 24-25 ski season is over.
"Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but after yesterday's heat the hill is looking beyond recovery. Therefore, the decision has been made to shut down the snow factory and bring the season to a regrettable end. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our customers for all their support over the season" a statement from the centre on Sunday informed. The centre posted the image above of their final day of 24-25 on Saturday.
With Nevis Range ski area also closed at present it means only three of the Scottish centres remain open, Cairngorm, Glencoe and Glenshee.
Warm weather over the past few weeks has unfortunately wiped out most of the natural snow cover but all three operate all-weather snowmaking machines which can make snow in plus temperatures so have small ski areas open. Even these weren't enough to enable Glenshee to continue operating at the weekend thoiugh and it was forced to close by the warm weather until the slopes could be patched up.
Glencoe Mountain Resort use their all-weather snowmaking machine primarily for a popular sledging slope and have a dry slope for beginner lessons, but say they plan to create a snow nursery slope too.
"Turning colder this week with a northerly wind and some snow flurries. We plan to keep making snow so sledging slope will remain in excellent condition and is open daily. With some cold settled weather on the way we will work to re-build the beginners ski and snowboard teaching area on the mountain," a statement from the centre explained.
Cairngorm's funicular railway re-opened providing access to some natural snow remaining at the top of the mountain over the past few weeks but that has also thawed in the warm temperatures. It remains to be seen if the current colder weather and snow forecast is enough to rebuild adequate natural snow for centres to re-open more terrain – springtime does sometimes see the heaviest snowfalls in the Highlands.
Nevis Range ski area near the UK's highest mountain, Ben Nevis and the west coast town of Fort William, is yet to open this season. The centre is the only one of the five not to have a functioning all-weather snowmaking system and has warned in recent years that, despite its best efforts to open when it can, the impact of climate change means that's increasingly rare. It managed a few days last season but hasn't had adequate natural snowfall this.
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