Scotland’s weather has delivered an early Christmas present for skiers and snowboarders, with four of the country’s five mountain ski areas already operating, and the other expecting to open very soon. And with the snow and cold weather forecast to continue through the rest of the week and over the weekend, there should be plenty of opportunities to work off the excesses of Christmas dinner, cake and mince pies with some healthy skiing or boarding at CairnGorm, Nevis Range, the Lecht or Glenshee. Glencoe is also expected to open over the holiday period; although there is enough snow, the new owners have had to condense six months’ work into a very busy six week period, and a few extra days are still required before they’re ready to welcome skiers and boarders.

Heather Negus, Chair of ski-scotland, said, “there has been a fantastic early start to the Scottish ski season this winter – in fact, it’s the best since 1999! CairnGorm has already been operating for a few weeks, and this is the first time since 2003 that Nevis Range has opened for snowsports before Christmas. The forecast is also really promising for some great fun and wicked sliding over the holiday period.”

For the first time, the five mountain ski areas are offering an all-area five-day ski pass. These are valid for any five consecutive days at any of the five areas, and can be bought at any of the ticket offices: CairnGorm Mountain, Glencoe Mountain, Glenshee, The Lecht and Nevis Range. The new pass has been produced in response to customer demand, and will allow skiers and boarders to sample each area, stick with one, or follow the best snow and road reports. The pass can be used for five days at one ski area, one day at each ski area – or any combination - the only requirement is that the five days are consecutive.

Heather continued, “we’d also like to remind our customers to check road conditions before they leave – remember that some of our mountain ski areas are served by Britain’s highest roads, at well over 2,000ft above sea level. This can easily be checked on the official website www.ski-scotland.com where you can also check on lifts due to open and snow conditions, with webcam images, before you leave home, or on your mobile. And if the roads north are snowbound, there’s also the chance to whet your appetite for mountain skiing or boarding, in the Central Belt of Scotland, at SNO!zone in Glasgow.”

ENDS

Note to editors:

·         For winter 2009/10, the 5-day all-area ski pass is only available for adults, cost £115. All five ski areas already offer good deals for children of different ages, with prices ranging from £10 for one day to £64 for 5 days, and offer family day tickets ranging from £70 to £90.

·         Owners of all-area ski passes are advised that the pass is not transferable, and they therefore may be asked to show ID at individual ski areas. Otherwise, terms and conditions of use are those applied by the ski area where the ticket is being used.

·         Winter 2008-9 attracted many people to the Scottish snowsports areas who have not visited before, or not for a long time. All the areas reported a high number of first-time visitors who normally ski or snowboard abroad – a positive spin-off from the current economic climate.

·         The number of people who skied or snowboarded in Scotland in winter 2008-9 was 159,885, worth around £4M to the snowsports centres and at least £12M to the Scottish economy.

·         Full snow and weather reports, with real-time webcam photos, can be seen in season on the official website www.ski-scotland.com