Novice skier - Scotland?

[Mammyofonlyone]

My husband and I are novice skiers and would like to take my daughter (4 1/2) skiing for the first time. I'm reluctant to spend a lot going to Europe/Canada as I'm not sure how much we'll enjoy it, plus my husband is injured so won't be able to manage a full week of skiing. We're based in NE England so, what with all of the talk of snow, I got to thinking about driving over the border for 2-3 days in Scotland before we commit to a full holiday.

Does anyone have any experience of this, and could you give recommendations? I literally have no idea where to start with booking accommodation, organising lessons, sorting equipment out etc - literally everything really. I can take my daughter out of school with no issue if that affects things. Any pointers would be fantastic, thank you

Such a tough one, because you can never tell til the last minute if it's going to be worth going. It can be totally amazing but it can also be blowing a hooley and off-putting. It also all adds up to be pretty expensive once you've factored in accommodation, equipment, etc. I'd opt for dry / indoor lessons for your DD if you want to give her a taster and then go abroad next year when your DP is better.

Thx Remote. That was the exact opinion of DH himself - maybe I should agree with him on this occasion! We were planning a last minute trip so will check the weather. Just booked our sessions on an indoor slope too. Thank you

contact Cairngorm ski centre for advice - they've had record amounts of snow this year I think (my friend works there)

Glencoe is another ski area with, I believe, good facilities

The Lecht is pretty good for novice skiing. We are NE too and go annually up to the Cairngorms or the Lecht. Though weve stopped skiing and now just sledge and then go get pissed.

That sounds like my kind of ski trip Nap!

Will give the cairngorm ski centre a bell, thank you for the advice everyone

The snow in Scotland is excellent at the moment. The main problem with Scottish ski resorts is that they are quite often closed by high winds.

It's therefore quite difficult to plan and we leave it until the night before to decide whether to go or not.

I would have a back up plan in case it's not possible to ski.

What type of thing do you do if you can't ski trick?

Sorry Trixy

Such a tough one, because you can never tell til the last minute if it's going to be worth going. It can be totally amazing but it can also be blowing a hooley and off-putting. It also all adds up to be pretty expensive once you've factored in accommodation, equipment, etc. I'd opt for dry / indoor lessons for your DD if you want to give her a taster and then go abroad next year when your DP is better.

I echo this absolutely. If you can ski on a dry slope you can ski on snow even better. The slopes in Scotland can be insanely busy too. I haven't been able to ski for a long time but used to ski as much as possible in winter and sometimes the conditions were beyond dire but I was experienced and a hardcore skier. As others have said the conditions are so changeable you could turn up and not be able to ski. It's not cheap either.

Everyone says if you can ski in Scotland you can ski anywhere. On a glorious sunny day with good snow it is fantastic. Unfortunately I’ve more often encountered horizontal sleet in a howling gale. There is nothing like skiing with one ski on slush and the other in heather. Imo Scottish skiing is fine if you can decide last minute to go, or go for the day. I learned in Bulgaria, good snow, cheap alcohol and good instructors.

Take her to the dry slope in Sunderland for some lessons first. Wear something warm yourself though, as they don’t seem to have realised that a nice warm cafe with comfy chairs and windows looking out over the slope would be a good thing.

If you do try the dry slopes wear some hard wearing gloves.

If you are on FB like the CairnGorm Mountain Ltd page. It's updated several times a day at the moment.

I've pondered a few times whether my view is really helpful but I'll dive in anyway.
From all I've heard about skiing in Scotland, I would never go.
I learned late in life and adore our skiing holidays in the Alps and don't mind once or twice a year a quick refresher in an indoor snow dome.
I would hate you to have a miserable time on a terrible day and decide skiing wasn't for you on the basis of that.
That said despite amazing reviews I'm yet to go to US or Canada skiing. I'd love to but it seems so far when we have so much choice in Europe.

I would really recommend going to Silksworth if you are in the NE. My kids have been going there since they were 4 and did a 10 week lesson package. This leads into their kids club called ‘Polar Bears’. The instructors are lovely and the kids have managed to transfer their skills to Scotland and abroad very well. They are both very competent and also get a lot of pleasure from the activities. If you get a windy day in Scotland it’s much nicer if you’ve already got some skills rather than learning from scratch! Another plus is you can almost do the 10 week course for the price of 2 hours in a snow dome!

Scotland’s great for skiing if you live in the central belt and can decide on the day and be on the slopes 2 hours later. That’s the beauty of it for me.

The Lecht is fantastic for beginners as it has magic carpets and fun kids area.

It has heaps if snow right now and is less likely to shut due to high winds than Cairngorm.

The nursery slopes are right beside the car park and cafe which is so handy!

Free ski are great for lessons. Cairngorm based but they might do the Lecht.

If you want to hedge your bets you could always stay somewhere you can easily get to the Lecht or Cairngorm like Grantown on spey or Nethy Bridge.

Both cairngorm and the Lecht have their own ski hire and sku schools too.

Even if the snow in Scotland, the weather isn’t always to kind. It can be glorious, it can also be extremely cold with very high winds. Scotland has the potential to put you off skiing for life!

The first sentence of my last post was meant to say “Even if the snow in Scotland is good....”.

I love skiing in Scotland. Where else in the UK is it normal to send your small child out on a mountain all day in a blizzard and minus 20 windchill!

Disclaimer: I have only ever skied in Scotland so don't know any better...

Are you anywhere near an indoor slope?
I’d totally recommend trying a few hours there as a taster as you’ll have real snow but not too much of a challenge to get to.

I remember going on a school skiing trip to Aviemore and spent the week mountain biking because there wasn't so much as a snowflake to be seen. And another trip to Glenshee was spent hill walking instead for the same reason.

You literally have to be able to drop everything and go when the combination of snow and open access roads happen. There must be so many "24 hour sickness bugs" and "Grannies Funerals" on days where the skiing is goos in Scotland.

Skiing in Scotland is where I learnt. Good place to learn because, most of the time, it's fairly terrible (this year is an exception) Ice, mud, heather, zero visibilty, sleet stinging your face. Which means that, when you go to the Alps, even a bad season seems absolutely amazing in comparison!