Scotland's ski resorts prospering as snow shows no signs of letting up

SCOTLAND'S ski centres said today they had enjoyed the best start to the season in decades thanks to the continued cold snap.

Skiiers pictured at Cairngorm mountain resort

Heavy snowfalls and consistently low temperatures have led to a bumper year for ski centre visitors, despite severe weather warnings and problems on many of the surrounding roads.

The Nevis Range centre in Fort William has enjoyed its busiest start to the ski season for a decade, while the Cairngorms centre, near Aviemore, reported the best snowfall it had seen since 1996.

Colin Kirkwood, of Cairngorm Mountain ski centre, said: "We have had five feet of snow in the last ten days. We haven't had snow as good as this for the past 14 years.

"The forecast is set to continue to be freezing for the next week and we are expecting to be very busy this weekend."

Mr Kirkwood said 18,000 skiers had visited the resort since the season opened on November 27, an 13,000 increase on last year.

In an average year, the centre gets between 12,000 and 15,000 visitors.

"We have had problems with access because as more snow falls we do have to keep the roads open and we aren't always able to get that done first thing in the morning," Mr Kirkwood said.

"But we are getting on with it very well and we are benefiting from it."

Glenshee ski centre in Perthshire has attracted average visitor numbers of between 600 and 700 on weekdays since the freezing weather kicked in, company director Stewart Davidson said.

Monday saw a season-high of 3,200 snow-sports fans visit the resort.

Last year 43,000 people visited over the course of the season, which usually runs from late December to March.

Mr Davidson said: "We are doing very well. It has been good for the last ten days. The snow has been a bonus for us. It is unusual for the snow to fall this early. It's not normally as good as this, this early."

He said there were problems with roads on the Tayside side of the centre but these had been resolved.

Heather Negus of the Nevis Range said the centre had enjoyed its busiest December for ten years.

"We have a lot of snow," she said. "We have had a good fall in front of

the hill and we are open for business. We are often not even open until the beginning of January, so the snow has been really good for us."