UKH

Hi folks,

our 9 and 5 year olds can ski competently (red/blue respectively) and we’re looking to take them skiing next Feb half term.

I'm struggling trying to justify the horrendous prices for going abroad for a week and wondered if Scotland would be an option?

I’ve only skied on the Nevis range and that was 20 odd years ago so taking cold, possibly miserable weather into account, can anyone recommend the best family orientated resort in Scotland for skiing and other things to do?

Was thinking of Aviemore but could do with some personal experience with kids recommendations.

Thanks,

Den 

In reply to Denni:

I am not sure that you will find it any cheaper and certainly if the weather doesn't play ball then you may find that it works out more expensive (in terms of price per skiing hour)

In reply to Denni:

Cairngorm is a no go as the funicular is still not repaired. I would recommend Glen Coe or Glenshee or Anoch Mhor. Fort William has probably got the most to do if you are looking for things like pools etc.

In reply to Denni:

Don't do it. Go somewhere else.

I've skied about eighty days perhaps in Scotland.  I love it. Many of my best ski days were there.  But don't do it.

Almost all my worst ski days were there too. Including loads where we didn't even get skis off the roof....

I always told myself never to books week ski holiday in Scotland. Just do days and weekend last minute if it looks good.

I wavered twice and booked weeks.

The first one we were planning to drive up on Saturday, but saw the forecast and drove Friday night....Saturday was good. Sunday involved loads of slushy puddles and being soaking wet.  Then it just rained the rest of the week so we went home. Biblical rain.

Then about ten years later when the memory had faded we booked into isles of Glencoe hotel at half term. I can't remember if we skied the first day or not. It certainly wasn't memorable.  Second day involved weather watching for two hours followed by a sprint to nevisrange when the wind dropped a bit. Kid one was in tears from the howling gale blasting spindrift into his face on the drag lift.

When we got off the lift to ski down the piste the kids didn't move.  The wind blowing up the hill was sooo strong that they just stayed still. I had to push them down.

We returned to the hotel, reviewed the forecast for the rest of the week and then cancelled our hotel and went home. Lifts stayed shut all week.

The following week I booked flights to Frankfurt for £80 each for the following year and we skied Italy for around £2.4k all in. For a family of four. At half term. And I mean all in.

Unless you are blessed with weather luck then don't bother.

To reiterate. I love skiing Scotland. But do not book a week there in advance.

In reply to Denni:

In mitigation, o should say that our Easter trips have been better. Less wind, more snow and better weather.

But February, no.

In reply to Denni:

I used to live In Strathspey & wouldn't recommend booking a ski holiday in Scotland even though some of my best days on skis have been in Scotland. You might find this recent thread of interest

https://www.ukhillwalking.com/forums/skiing/where_to_snowboard_in_scotland_for... 

In reply to Denni:

I've taken my kids up there a few times at February half terms but only for a couple of days. We've had mixed results with the weather and the conditions. Sometimes nice, sometimes horrible but still skiable, and one time we went mountainbiking in the forests instead as it was too windy for lifts to open.

I've always booked a B&B last minute, and found if we get up early and leave Sheffield at about 6 am we can ski a full afternoon in Glencoe (afternoon tickets start at 1300 IIRC). When conditions have been good, we had to queue for literally two hours to hire my son skis though. Skiing in Scotland can be quite annoying in all those little ways, but it can be good if you're lucky with the weather. I reckon its best if you can go to different resorts though, I reckon I'd get bored doing a week at say just Nevis Range.

In reply to Denni:

Cost wise Italy tends to be quite a bit cheaper than France (at least for flights, food, hire car, coffee, ski pass) well worth a look if you've not been there. However suspect that half-term will blow this theory out the water. 

In reply to TobyA:

Ah yes. When I first bought a board many years ago (when I only rode Scotland) someone queried whether it was cheaper than hiring.  I explained that it was nothing to do with cheapness, just a need to maximise precious time on the hill.  Either buy kit or spend most of your day in a hire queue.

I think we hired stuff for the kids twice.  Then we bought as the alternative was just awful. We've got tiny ski boots, two pairs of Rocces adjustable ski boots, poles of various tiny lengths and three pairs of kids skis from 100cm upwards sat in the cupboard. Did our kids from age five to 12 for around 400 quid I think.

Still recall the woman in front of me in the queue for ski passes at Glen Coe years ago when I was buying half day passes. (As Toby says above, post 1pm)

Please can I have my money back?

Why?

BECAUSE I BOUGHT THIS DAY PASS AT 8:30 THIS MORNING AND HAVE BEEN QUEUING FOR SKI HIRE EVER SINCE. WHEN I FINALLY GOT TO THE FRONT OF THE QUEUE JUST NOW THEY DONT HAVE ANY STUFF IN MY SIZE....

In reply to Denni:

Don't. I live in Aberdeen and only plan to ski the day before after checking the web cams. Planning skiing here is not possible more than 2-3 days ahead. Despite that I've had 5000m vert snowboarding in powder outside the fences at the Lecht for a morning half day ticket. Similarly an Everest on skis in a morning. 

In reply to Denni:

if you look at it as a holliday in scotland, with the possibility of skiing as a bonus then yeh go for it. base yourself somewhere near (but preferably not in) aviemore or fort william and be willing to travel around to different resorts if neccesary. 

but as others have said, booking a specific weeks ski holliday in scotland is unfortunately a bad idea. it could be the best weeks skiing of your life, but there is at least a 75% chance you will be dissapointed!

as an aside, i spent nearly every feb half term of my childhood going skiing in scotland, and it made me the expert skier i am now. but thats only because i had family living in fort william.

In reply to Denni:

Don't! 

I love skiing in Scotland and I get a number of good days every year (with or without kids). But I live in Edinburgh and go when the conditions are good. 

If you book a specific week in a specific place the odds are that there will be now snow; or there may be snow but it will be windy, wet and miserable and the kids won't enjoy it... 

If you do go with this option then having your own kit is of course essential....

five and nine years old you say... What size feet?

could kit you out for the next few years if you want to buy second hand

In reply to TheGeneralist: if the op isn't interested in the kit I might be 

In reply to Denni:  Another vote for not booking and for pretty much what everybody else said , it can be amazing  and it can be horrible .  None of the hills seem to have any scruples about taking your money and then not giving it back when really they should . Imho Cairngorm with the funucular working is the best with kids as it's by far the easiest to get them up and down the hill ( mind I have three ) withe all the kit . Echoing and adding to what has been said  don't hire kit at the hill , it can take hours . Hire everything you need before you arrive at the car park and also if possible buy the ski passes to. Again carirngorn is best for this as you can do all of that at the red squirrel in glenmore  ' . I'm thinking of Glenshee for a couple of long weekends ( snow dependent ) with the kids but need to work on making it all as easy as possible .  What I should have started with is that my kids have all had some excellent days skin  g in Scotland and all rate it , but it's hard work .  Just thought of a tip of the day . I use a pod black ice for ski touring . I added ( on  pods advice ) some buckles to each of the compression straps. This makes it posssibke to carry my skis and two pairs of kids skis strapped to the sides . This means two of the kids are  just carrying poles . Makes the whole show a little bit less like herding cats . 

In reply to mike123:

which it isn't at the moment & it looks like it won't run this winter, or maybe ever again

In reply to Doug: yes , perhaps I should have put "....when the funicular is working...... " as without it skiing with kids not big  enough to ride the m1 Poma at Cairngorm is pretty much impossible.  My 7 year old is a pretty handy skier but I reckon it would spit him off .  I wonder if anybody on here has any experience of skiing at Glenshee with kids ?  As to the funicular getting fixed , I'm planning on winning the euro millions tomorrow evening and paying for it. So no worries there then. 

In reply to mike123:

used to be possible to access the upper slopes using the Ciste chair but that's been removed

In reply to mike123:

Got some Atomic race 100cm skis. Bought new presumably about 8 years ago I guess.

Dalbello CX boots. Size 18.5 I think. 

Rocces idea boots medium (19-22)

Rocces adjustable boots. (22.5-25.5)**

Atomic Hawk Junior boots.size 23/23.5

Leki poles 80cm

Leki poles 95 cm

Leki poles 105cm**

Salomon xi race 120cm**

Tecnopro Team 130cm skis**

For occasional Scotland skiers the Rocces boots are absolutely bloody brilliant. Each one fits 5 or 6 different sizes. Absolutely excellent for buying at the beginning  of the year, knowing that you can ski at the drop of a snowflake but equally haven't wasted your cash if there's no bloody snow all year after all.

I'd need to check which kit fits the younger kid still, but certainly don't need the small stuff any more.

In reply to mike123:

In balance....I recall one of my six trips from Manchester when they had that best season ever, when was that... perhaps 8 or 10 years ago.  Anyway, we managed to pick the worst 6 weekends of the season.  We went up the weekend after the weekend when people were skiiing down the bike track all the way to the base station.  I recall pleading with the woman at Nevis Rage to sell us a ticket.  She refused and said that conditions were so bad that we would hate it and just come down.  She said the weeks rain had washed all the snow off and it was just dire.  So they're not always bad.   In the end we went up and had a great day.  Fair enough there was absolutely no fresh, but the snow everywhere was completely smooth like it had been pisted.  Made the jumps off the back corrie cornices really good.  We had a great day.  It might have been the worst weekend of that season, but it was still better than most weekends of the average season.

Erm yes, Since you asked.  

about 7 years ago I guess.  Two kids, perhaps 5 and 7 years old or maybe one year more.

Loads of snow, brilliant forecast.... sun and cloudy spells Saturday, cloud and snow Saturday night....

Picked the kids up from school In Manc and drove north.  Got to Spittal of Glenshee around 9pm.  Gloriously starry night.  Beer, bed.

Got up 8am.  Clear skies.  Drove the last few miles.  Generally clear skies.  Bought lift passes, queued for ages.  Partially cloudy.

Queued for kids hire skis.  For ages.  Came out, completely cloudy.  Tried first drag lift.  Kids not very good at drag lifts, and certainly not Scottish ones which yank small people off their feet into the air.  There is a dual button there somewhere isn't there...

Kid1 tried lift.  Falls off.  Kid 2 tries, falls off.  Kid 1 tries and succeeds.  Off he goes up the hill, shortly to be enveloped by the cloud.  Kid 2 eventually gets on the lift, so I grab the next button and off we go.  Into the cloud.  Halfway up the hill we find Kid1 sprawled at the side of the uptrack in a big pile of heather.  Decision time, do i tell Kid 2 to bail or tell Kid1 to wait where he is.  Decide on the latter approach and tell him to stay put.  We disappear into the clag.  

We get to the top and head down the piste that seems to go closest to the lift line.  The piste veers off somewhere so we follow it.  I then need to cut left to pick up Kid1, but it's complete combat skiiing so I can't take Kid2 with me..... anyway, eventually we all find our way to the bottom.  Not liking drags.   Kids want to give up at this point. Not fun and they are cold cold cold.  Having driven 300 miles I want to give it one last shot.

Luckily, we spot a chair lift on the other side of the road (West side?) and head towards it and get on.  We're just starting to relax and congratulate ourselves when we realise that we're approach the "top " station.  The bloody lift is only about 50m long or something.

Kids are getting cold.  We find another lift.  I think the Tiger chair was cllosed so it was probably another Poma.  Amazingly we manage to get to the top of this one.   Absolute howling gales at the top and horizontal heavy snow.  Kids very cold.  Can't ski down the blue piste as the wind is too strong.  So we drop down something to the right, might have been red.

Kids soldier down it getting proper cold and unhappy.  Stagger into cafe for some rank food consult the internet.  Weather forecast has shifted precisely 7 hours and the forecast glorious day has turned into a blizzard.  After much discussion of options I call it.  The kids have tried their best but we are beaten.  It's not going to work.

Hand in skis, bin ski passes  Get changed.  Drive back down to Manchester.  Adding insult to injury, by this time the snow is really falling and so we have to follow a snowplough nearly all the way to Carlisle.

Some you win, some you lose.

Rereading this, if we were hiring kids skis then they must have been proper little.  Not quite sure WTF I was doing with two tiny ones on that mountain.  Bad call.  Bad me.

In balance though we've had some amazing days in Scotland.  It was probably 6 weeks after that when we did Cairngorm at Easter.  Remember camping in the van in the carpark.  Minus 9 C outside, minus 5,5 C inside.  Kids all wrapped up in Rab's finest in the pop top roof.  Next day on the White lady and the Ciste Gully which was complete all the way to the carpark.  Absolutely fabulous day.

In reply to Denni:

Good choice because if Brexit happens then you won't be able to go abroad. You also might not be able to go to Scotland if your English by then either. Borders up buttercup. 

In reply to TheGeneralist: hey , thanks for that , reallly familiar story , which I will re read before going up this winter if it snows  . I think one of the reasons I ve stuck to Cairngorm with the kids is that I know the hill reasonably well and I think the bigger two do to and would stick together and sort themselves out  ( the last time we were there they had a great couple of days skiing together while Me and the little one practiced falling off t bars and buttons ) , so when the sh1t hits the fan I would hopefully feel just about within my comfort zone . I can just see a version of your story happening to me at Glenshee , with cold wet children scattered around the hill in a blizzard and the whole thing being an expensive waste of time and more importantly enough to put them off .  

In reply to mike123:

Hi folks,

apologies for the tardy reply and most of you have replied with what I thought would be the answer!

My wife had already curtailed the idea apparently and although I've been happy enough skiing that time of year in Scotland despite being hardy, our kids would probably end up threaders.

Anyway, rather than a mega expensive Alpine ski holiday, I suddenly remembered when I was serving I used to go to Winterberg/Willingen (mainly to go on the lash....) at the weekends and googling, it seems to have changed and improved a fair bit with a lot of winter cannons which were similar to a lot of our weekend trips from DC wen we lived in the US and really enjoyed.

So a week at Feb half term In Winterberg, Air BnB accommodation, food, petrol, ferries, ski passes etc etc is only, I realise it is still a lot, £1900.

Thanks again, much appreciated.

Den 

In reply to Denni:

It's a gamble; last year was good, but the four years before were too warm in the second half of February. Snow cannons are only used at temperatures below 0°C (there's a rider to that effect at the bottom of the Winterberg website).