So fed up of stories like this every single year. Stupid bloody Skiing.

Totally! I spent many a miserable day as a child soaked to my pants as our ski gear wasn't up to the Scottish skiing weather. Then there was the memorable, in a bad way, sodden afternoon sat sharing a mars bar as we'd forgotten to bring cash for our lunch.

Your tarquins and Jocastas never had to endure that I bet!

The first time I went abroad I kept falling over as I was used to sheet ice and not real snow. 😂😂

This was me! Learned at Hillend and spent many a school trip skiing over rocks, grass and sheets of ice up north. The first time I skied on proper snow in Austria I bought believe how easy it was!!

Honestly, people go on about how marvellous it is, because if you enjoy it, it really is marvellous. Some of my best holidays have been skiing. You go knowing the risks, that's just how it is. You mitigate against it, i.e. wearing helmets, doing runs you can do, and overall it is still incredibly safe. Trampolines cause more injuries than skiing. Bike riding, horse riding, christ even getting in a car is dangerous - You can't live a life completely without risks, and for some, the risk of skiing is worth it.

I always remember snow in Scotland. There was some serious sledging going on every year. It seems to come later now though Feb/ Mar.

My DH would say you're right... He remembers childhood winters all being like the amazing winter of lockdown. Not sure if those are rose tinted spectacles though.

And you know what... I don't think there's anywhere as beautiful as Scotland in the sun.

Is it my memory or was Scottish snow more reliable in the late 80s?

I have great memories of Glenshee the schools preferred option. Then one day they took us to Glencoe. My hair became a frozen sheet of ice on my back.

Not long after DH and I met we decided to try boarding in Glencoe, £50, board hire, couple of hours lesson and all day pass. Seemed a good deal.
It was THE most glorious day in Glencoe. Sun was shining the glen just looked amazing, thank goodness because I couldn't get going on the daft snowboard and we spent most of the afternoon on our backsides admiring the view.😍

Decided to stick with skis ⛷️ but I'll never forget how glorious Glencoe was with snow and sun 🌞

Puts it into perspective when I obsessively check the 3V snow reports and start worrying when it goes below 90/150.

Oh I don't know, there is something special about Scottish skiing though. One of my favourite photos is of my son and one of his friends skiing at the Lecht in the sunset (so probably about 2pm) - they had spent the whole day whooping with joy about how much powder there was off piste, which was actually a light dusting of snow on the heather and possibly 0.5cm in the gullies. Makes for the Best Day Ever for a couple of 7 year olds.

Yes, tough little blighters! Some of my nephews were 'trained' like this. Unlike my soft southern offspring who expected sunshine. TBF, so do I. And lots of mountain cafes with sunny terraces.

Totally agree!

The last time I skied in Scotland was nearly 30 years ago, it was miserable. The sleet was horizontal, the visibility was a few feet. The was more ice, mud and rocks than actual snow. I threw my skis down in a huff and vowed never to ski again. 10 years later, I'd moved to London and booked a trip to Meribel. Everyone was talking about what a terrible season it was so I was so worried I'd spent loads of money and wouldn't get to ski. When I got there, however, I had never seen so much snow. It was amazing!

Scotland is a brilliant place to learn because even a bad day in the Alps is better than a good day in Scotland!

I was told you can often spot children who learnt on Scottish ski slopes as they never whinge. Ice in the morning followed by slush in the afternoon. Europe seems like paradise.

I used to ski at the Lecht years ago (on the rare occasion that there was snow AND the Tomintoul road was actually open) - I spent most of my time trying to avoid all the ice, rocks and mud and trying to see more than 2 feet in front of me through all the sleet whilst cursing. So I was far too distracted with that to even try to and find Tarquin and Jocasta never mind try to keep up with them.

@goodkidsmaadhouse

We mostly ski in Glencoe. It's mainly hardcore ski fans prepared to tramp through mud for a few turns. 😂😂

Yeah, we mostly ski Glenshee. Weirdly enough have never met a Tarquin or Jocasta up there. Plenty of lovely normal down to earth kids and parents who like us work in the public sector as teachers, nurses, doctors, school support staff, etc... but that doesn't quite suit the narrative does it? Or maybe it's just all going down at Glencoe, I don't know.

Where are you?! This is a very odd view of the world.

British families do not gather up their kids and head to the mountains for half term, spending hours travelling and thousands of pounds plus getting sore muscles and risking death and injuries, just to say they have been skiing.
What a load of nonsense you speak.

Some alternative views are...

• the 4x4 is fun to drive, gives them a better view of the road and fits all their kids, dogs, crap and mud in
• Labradors are great family dogs and born half trained so fit easily into a busy family life
• they love the freedom of the mountains, the peace, the fact their kids get off their tech long enough to let their eyes view the horizon and actually have a conversation with others whilst getting loads of fresh air and exercise.

If you hate skiing you definitely should not try it.

@Abra1t why did I tag you?! Because you replied to my comment and then I replied to your reply?!

I absolutely bloody love skiing. I can't imagine many people spend thousands of pounds and a week of annual leave just to keep up with someone else, or look a certain way. It is the one holiday that has my teenager counting down the days and bouncing with excitement like a small child, and gets us all out in the mountains enjoying fresh air and exercise.

Yes there is a risk, but while we were away skiing last week one of DS' football team badly broke his arm just by falling over awkwardly while training. Another football player in a different age group had to be airlifted to hospital due to a head injury.

You can't completely avoid risk, you can only choose whether the risk is worth the reward, which for us it definitely is. I have no issue if other people don't fancy it. We all like different things. I am aware how lucky we are to be able to afford to ski, although we do it about as cheaply as possible.

I disagree that skiing is to blame.
The report may have been misleading, since it mentioned that they were on a Red run, but no information was provided regarding the proficiency of the child or his parents on tackling a Red run on their own (no mention of a ski instructor or guide).
We put our kids into ski school, and did our skiing in the morning while they were there, returning to the blue and green slopes in the afternoon to help them practice. We were seasoned skiers, but always respected the terrain, so planned how to ski safely together as a family
As they became more proficient, we tackled a couple of Red runs with them, but only after explaining the rules to be followed (We stop if it gets steep, then Dad goes first a little way and stops, one DC skis to him and stop, before the other DC skis to Dad and Stops, followed by me, then I go first, then stop Etc.)
Allowing a child to go fast without learning to stop first, again and again, until you are sure that they are capable of stopping, and also, crucially, regulating their speed is a clear case of the ski group not understanding the dangers of this dangerous sport…

someone i know just broke their hip on a skiing trip - shes out for 6 months.

@jasflowers both of those are tragic.

I 100% support drivers having mandatory eye tests in the UK.
It's beyond ridiculous that someone can pass their test at 17 and still be driving at 90 without any checks on their ability to drive or how aware they are.
I think sight tests would at least be a starting point

Muriel Furrer died in the world junior championship road race in Switzerland, last year....., she went over the edge of the road but was left there for at least an hour, vital time in which she could have survived.

She wasn't a professional & just 18 years old, she should never have died, the UCI didn't provide the marshalling required.

Pro cyclists spend upwards of 30 hours a week riding on the roads, so their exposure to danger is far far higher than someone who just rides to work or on a Sunday morning.

A rider my daughter raced with, was Josephine Gilbert, run over by a lorry driver who shouldn't have been anywhere nr a lorry, he was banned due to being almost blind.... as usual a pitiful sentence, 2 years inside i think he served.

Yes cycling is becoming increasingly dangerous.

IME as someone involved in both, MTBing is much worse for single-vehicle accidents (ie no-one else involved). Road cycling much worse for multiple-vehicle accidents - where the other vehicle is usually a motor vehicle, although bike-on-bike accidents are also very common in racing. Overall road cycling more dangerous than MTB because of motor vehicles (two pro cyclists killed while training so far this year, Sarah Piffer and Muriel Furrer) whereas in the MTB world I can only think of Scott Huntley.

Turns out drunk drivers are more dangerous than trees and rocks.

OR they enjoy it?

This is such a bizarre point of view. You hate it so those that love it only love it to look fancy? Lol

What mountains did you ski on?

To feel fulfilled?

The sanctimony is off the charts with this jump to conclusions.

This is BASE jumping levels of unfounded conclusions.

I love all the poeple on here who have never tried skiing saying what everyone who does go skiing's motivations are - to do something they have never trie and know nothing about :)

Smoking an drinking alcohol are by far the riskiest activities anyone in this country can do, followed by driving.

I go scuba diving and skiing, scuba diving is way riskier than skiing and I feel much more aware of danger doing that than skiing - thats why you have to be 12+ to scuba dive, but children can ski. I would never drive a motorbike and wouldn't let any of my children on one. Risk perception is very skewed here.

The reason the print room guys aren't going skiing is probably because it's expensive. Same as horse-riding. That doesn't make it a class issue. There are plenty of rich working class people and manual labourers. I know a plumber and builder who have been coining it in over the past few years and have recently started skiing, despite having no history or exposure as kids/teens. The Jocasta Tarquin thing is ludicrous, and chippy MN at it's finest.