Recent articles about the Scottish Ski Industry have not always been favourable, in fact a lot of them focus on doom and gloom. The press has been rife with talk of the demise of skiing in Scotland despite  the bumper seasons of the past few winters and with the publishing of the Scottish Snowsports Strategic Review in September the wolves have again pounced placing their negative spin on the paper.

The Scottish Snowsports Strategic Review was commissioned in September 2010 by the Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Scottish Enterprise and prepared by the Tourism Resources Company. This strategic review was to identify the current scale and the key issues and challenges faced by the industry which has an average economic benefit of £30 million per annum and employs over 600 people in these rural areas.

Before I go into further detail about this review, however, lets see what has been going on in the Scottish Ski Centres over the summer months where the profits of the past couple of good seasons are being put to good use.

Glenshee is leading the way turning profits into improvements, the pylons are in place for a new chairlift which they hope to have in operation this season and a new beginners tow is in place. They will take delivery of a new groomer also, the second in 2 years, and given that Glenshee has the greatest amount of lift-served terrain on offer in the UK this is no doubt a welcome addition. Amongst other bits and pieces around 4km of new snow fencing has been installed which is a heck of an achievement in itself and should help keep the pistes in good order this season. (For those unaware the fencing causes drifts as snow is blown around by the wind and this is collected and pisted by the groomers.)

At CairnGorm a footbridge across a stream has been removed and replaced with a more heavy duty affair. You may ask what this has to do with the ski season? Here comes the clever part... a great deal of snow gathers on the car park at CairnGorm which can require some serious snowploughing before cars are let in. Previously this snow was simply ploughed over the edge of embankments but the new bridge will take the weight of a piste groomer so this snow can effectively be “farmed” onto the lower slopes of the mountain to improve the cover.

Heated doors have been installed at the tunnel mouth for the funicular where the old doors were prone to icing during storms. A range of maintenance works have been carried out across the mountain including replacing the rope on one of the pomas (no easy task manipulating a 6 tonne wire!) and overhauls and upgrades going on with some of the T-bar lifts which should improve efficiency and reduce downtime. Last but certainly not least they have got a new winch cat with anchor points going in across the mountain for grooming the steep stuff!

Glencoe have a new rope on the Cliffhanger chair, new tracks for the piste basher and there was some word of buying another groomer, installing a new rope tow and investment in snowmaking. Work is said to be planned on a second and easier mountainbike track there.

The Lecht plan to install a wind turbine, green is always good and if the power generated is going to their snow cannons and lifts – even better!

At Nevis Range a new, larger cafe opened in the spring at the base of the mountain. The space previously occupied by the old cafe is reported to be used for the expansion of ski hire this winter.

Still Reading?

Now to the review. As stated elsewhere there has been a decline in the numbers skiing in Scotland. Of course, since the data used for the review goes back to the pioneering days of the 50's and 60's it covers quite a hefty growth and decline. The report states that 2009/10 was the best season for 20 years but the demand was below that of the 80's and early 90's. To expect them to be the same is folly as I recall as a young boy in those days arriving by bus to ski at Glenshee with the carpark full of coaches. These days its cars you can't park enough cars in the space to have the same amount of people for a start and the car parks at Glenshee were full to capacity on my last visit. So for parking there is not the capacity for those numbers, uplift was cut back during the tougher years so there is not the infrastructure to cater for those 1980s numbers on the mountain either. Lets look at the reasons given for the decline. Naturally, inconsistent conditions is one of the reasons given, frankly there is no denying that – other reasons given were fewer schools taking part and less young people entering the sport but of course the biggie is cheap deals abroad! Budget ski breaks abroad lured the people away, as numbers fell there was less money to spend and cutbacks were made and here we are with lifts 35-50 years old (some of them) and outdated facilities compared with the European resorts people are used to and of course “there's no snow anymore in Scotland” is there?

The report states “the perception that there is no snow in Scotland needs to be overcome” - “very often there is snow late in the season and skiing is possible in late April and well into May, but the market just does not visit” which I have seen with my own eyes many a time. The tows stop running when the demand dies off more seasons than by the lack of snow. Talking of which, a local skier Helen Rennie has just achieved her 24th month in a row of skiing on CairnGorm after skiing last weeks fresh snowfall and having hiked to ski the remaining snow from last season all summer. Who needs glaciers!

So why don't the Scottish Ski Centres upgrade the facilities? As I've mentioned they are, but without outside investment (and who is gonna be crazy enough to invest in Scottish Skiing?) the money required for brand new lifts and state-of-the-art snowmaking equipment is hard to come by. The ski centres have diversified as summer tourist attractions for sight seeing, mountain biking and other activities (as is recommended in the review) and are established year-round businesses. CairnGorm, for example had around 130,000 sightseeing visitors take a ride on the funicular railway in 2010.

The report mentions a rather interesting point: all lifts and tows are subject to 20% VAT, Swedish GST was reduced to 6% rather than the normal 12% after lobbying to make skiing more competitive. French TVA on ski tickets is 5.5%. A reduction in VAT for the ski centres would surely be of great benefit, cheaper prices would bring more numbers and help rejuvenate the industry in Scotland.

In conclusion things are not as desperate as they are made out to be, but are certainly not ideal. The economic downturn in conjunction with the good snowfall of the past few seasons has actually helped skiing in Scotland with some of those unable to afford a ski holiday abroad taking a chance with skiing at home. We need a VAT drop on lift passes, a lotto winner to buy a new chairlift, perhaps but what we really need is to stop the horror stories and shake off the image because people always remember a place that someone told them something bad about. There are people out there putting a lot of hard work in all summer long to improve the facilities out there so show some support and use them!

The Scottish Snowsports Strategic Review can be found at: http://www.hie.co.uk/highlands-and-islands/economic-reports-and-research