UKH

Not quite the Three Valleys but the Mennock pass is a pretty one and will host a new skiing resource this winter in the South of Scotland.

http://www.skiclub.lowtherhills.com/

Situated above Wanlockhead, which was the filming location used for 'Hope Springs', a fictional Highlands village in a TV series, the 'new' ski lift will make its journey from the Pennines to the Southern Uplands ready for the 2014/2015 ski season.

The Lowther Hills aren't big ones but they're well inland and catch good snow most winters. Access will be easy off the M74 motorway and although a 600 metre ski tow is short compared to most of the other Scottish ski lifts, I've skied off the radar station top a couple of times and there's some decent vertical, a nice gully line and a decent pub in the village for apres.

In the link there are now some details of this Sunday's meet at Wanlockhead for those interested in helping out and understanding the layout of the planned facilities.

How it was ... youtube.com/watch?v=8tSZe-bD6PE&

In reply to moffatross:

Great to see this, hopefully we'll get some snow this winter.

In reply to moffatross:
Hope springs. Very appropriate!

Anybody that knows these hills will be aware that they're used for grazing and grouse shooting which shouldn't be affected by winter skiing. A private tarmac road runs from Wanlockhead to the summit of Lowther Hill and along the ridge to Green Lowther to service existing infrastructure and we believe that a club hut and ski lifts close to that road shouldn't impact adversely on the environment.

Today is the last day for comments regarding our planning application so if you'd like to be able to access a skiing facility roughly half way between Gretna & Glasgow, or know someone else that might, please spare 5 minutes.

http://www.skiclub.lowtherhills.com/news/14-please-support-our-planning-app...

1. Go to http://pbsportal.southlanarkshire.gov.uk/Northgate/PlanningExplorer/General... and type our Application Number, CL/14/0358, under Search Criteria.

2. Click on Add Comments Here and write a brief comment in support of the application. For example: "It's a fantastic idea", "I look forward to skiing on Lowther Hill", or "It'll be great for the local families and the community in general", etc.

The kindness and support we have received has been incredible and it’s great that more and more people are getting involved.

In reply to moffatross:

Done!

In reply to moffatross:

Done .

In reply to moffatross:

Done, good luck with the application

Thanks all, that's fantastic & really helpful.

In reply to moffatross:

Appeals time

Things are progressing quite well, I's are being dotted, T's are being crossed etc, but we're still seeking more support and anything that might help speed us along the way to a successful new (first) season such as old ski matting, fencing (pallets, wood), ski equipment, sheds, sponsorship, vehicular stuff (we need a people trailer for a quad or tracks for a Landy) or anything else that might come in handy for a nascent ski club. If there's anything you can do, or can give, or anyone else you know (at a dry slope club perhaps) who might be able to help us, please, please get in touch via the club web page at http://skiclub.lowtherhills.com

There was a TV crew up on Friday to put together a report for ITV Border ...

http://www.itv.com/news/border/update/2014-10-28/watch-out-aspen-and-val-di...

In reply to moffatross:

Congratulations!

I see the planning application has been passed.

I'll look forward to skiing there.

In reply to blurty:

Cheers blurty. Anjo is the chief architect and his timetable is 'aggressive'. We'll be busy bees for a while. :-P

Good progress made by today's work party, and the hill is beginning to take on the shape of a ski club ..

https://www.flickr.com/photos/88898381@N02/15674728508/in/photostream/

We put the ski tow engine in place on Lowther Hill yesterday. It was a 3 mile journey that began at dawn (pic below) and finished around 2 PM. Unfortunately for all of us in the work party, the rain and strong winds that were expected late afternoon arrived several hours early, but we were pleased to get that job done.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/88898381@N02/15966213241/

A wee bit of video courtesy of Des Reid of us moving the engine from the summit to its final destination late morning yesterday ... http://youtube.com/v/mgWsiRjR6jc&feature=youtu.be

Wee photoset from the hill today ...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/88898381@N02/sets/72157649659082211/

In reply to moffatross:

Someone needs snowboarding lessons. But at least she/he's got some lovely snow.

In reply to moffatross:

I like the disco ball.

Four of us on the hill today, and despite the snowdrifts on the road, ferried the last of the repaired towers up the hill, dug in four more, and laid out the return rope. Cold, wet and miserable work but we now only have an engine shed to reassemble, six more towers to dig in, and a rope to splice, and then we're pretty much ready to go.

Despite the thaw, lack of fencing, and the storm that had blown much of the snow over the east of the ridge, the presence of the gully has left us about a km of skiable snow along the lip.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/88898381@N02/sets/72157649397727610/

We've erected a fixed ski tow and engine on Lowther Hill in the South of Scotland and just waiting on a few bits from the fabricators, and we're itching to get it tested. We've had no 'public money', no grants, no awards. Just donations, gifts and untold hours of hard graft from about a dozen or so volunteers over the last 8 months to make it happen.

Right now though, we're doing a crowd funder so that we can commission http://www.winterhighland.info/weather/ the undisputed master of (reliable) high level Scottish mountain webcams and weather stations, to provide us our own installation near the summit. We're looking to get enough weather geeks, ski freaks, and webcam peepers to cough up a few quid to get this installed ASAP, and if we can go over our goal, any leftovers will help us buy a few more metres of portable snow fencing so there's something white to look at after the Atlantic tries to do its usual trick of blasting it all off the hills.

To give you an idea of what may be required, this is part of the Weardale ski club's power generation provision for their set-up ... http://i61.tinypic.com/11l0o00.jpg

I've used 'justgiving' as most of us in the UK know & trust the site, and it only takes a minute to stick in your card details and contribute a bit towards something that many people on this forum will want to look at.

Really grateful if you can contribute. Linky below.

https://www.justgiving.com/yimby/lowtherhillsskiclub

We only need another £50 to reach the fundraising target. We can then serve up all year round, publicly available weather data, historical conditions and live images across the landscape from 700 metres ASL in the Southern Uplands.

Can UKC help ? ... https://www.justgiving.com/yimby/lowtherhillsskiclub#/

In reply to moffatross:
Done

In reply to mike123:

Thanks Mike. Genuinely appreciated.

Whilst it seemed everybody else was in the Highlands enjoying some of the best skiing of the season, we had five days straight on Lowther Hill, drilling, cutting, fixing, wiring, testing and networking data across some of the most erratic mobile coverage in Scotland. We're now on-line with 2 automated cameras looking down the hill across the club's ski slopes on Lowther Hill itself, powered by sunlight and communicating to the world through mobile phone masts somewhere out there. Thanks go to www.winterhighland.info whose dedication and expertise were exemplary, and of course for the Public's donations that paid for the hardware to make it possible. Over the coming weeks, we'll add the weather station for a live weather feed and extend the camera network to include a view up from the club house towards the engine hut and radome.

The camera feeds may be intermittent just now but once we have worked out the best configuration, mobile operator, location of data transceivers etc, the reliability should improve. It'll take time and pattern monitoring to do that but it's a unique installation, and I can't think of any other locations in Scotland where there are webcams running without external power. Actually, there are few webcams running across mobile networks at all really, most being hardwired to the internet so an off-grid installation like this is pretty special, and to have one on a summit makes it even more so.

Camera linky ... http://www.skiclub.lowtherhills.com/webcams

Some pix (mostly Sunday's stunning sunset) ... https://www.flickr.com/photos/88898381@N02/sets/72157651735615226/

In reply to moffatross:
At least there won't be any queues to ski there...will anybody ever go there?

In reply to moffatross:

I see a greater potential in this to make money out of DH mountain bikers more than skiers

Commercialisation can be a successful model as demonstrated elsewhere in Scotland. However, club run ski fields can have their place, they are already a mainstay of NZ skiing, and are increasing in numbers throughout the rest of the world too. The English Pennines & Lake District have had club ski fields for years. Our offering is suitable for learners, enthusiasts, ski tourers and family groups happy with a few visits each winter, the kind of skier happy to rough it a bit, deal with variable weather and snow conditions, and bring their own flask of coffee and sandwiches We're delighted at the support and membership sign-ups from enthusiasts throughout Scotland so far, looking to be part of a community project and enjoy the craic with like-minded people. We're not likely to appeal to Cairngorm day ticket buyers, people who want the comfortable experience they get in the Alps, and definitely not to folks who've already got a downer on Scottish skiing.

@balmybaldwin, regards 'making money from mountain biking', as we are a club ski field, we have no employees and 'making money' is not an objective although we will need more funds to improve the membership experience. Never say never, but we lease the land from an estate and the prospect of building mountain biking tracks is simply not an option at present. In any case, surface lifts aren't suitable for mountain biking uplift. The venture is run for members by volunteers and our project so far has been almost entirely supported through gifted labour and donations. An annual membership (available to anybody) costs about the same as 3 hours at an indoor snowslope or a day ticket at a Highland ski centre, but allows the member to use the tows whenever we run them. This winter we ran portable ski tows on 20 days, mostly at the Leadhills golf course, and on a few days on Lowther Hill. We have now completed the fixed ski tow on Lowther Hill and placed a shelter at its base, so next season should see more action there