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Scottish Skiing - The Glory Days by Ed Rattray

There was a revolution in ski sport in Scotland and it started slowly in the 1950s, then exploded into the 1960s. The golden years were the 1960s, 70s and 80s when skiing was accessible and affordable to the masses.  Pitlochry actually had its own ski club at one time - one of 90 clubs with some 12,000 members which formed the National Ski Council, now called Snowsport Scotland.

Going back in time, skiing had been an elitist sport, enjoyed by the few who climbed the Scottish winter mountains or could afford to visit the Alps. The Scottish Ski Club which was founded in 1907, had a modest membership in it’s early years but after the Second War, it grew rapidly to become the senior club in Scotland.  Indeed, climbing and walking clubs flourished in the same way, as people began to have more leisure time and money in their pockets.

The lure of the snow hills gathered pace. The Scottish SC had a hut and a ski tow on Ben Lawers (1214metres), overlooking Loch Tay.  The Dundee Ski Club which broke away from the “Scottish” in the late 1930’s  favoured Ben Gulabin (806 mts) to the south of Cairnwell, while the Aberdeen Ski Club formed in 1955  adopted Carn an Tuirc (1019mts) on the Braemar side of  the mountain pass.

Pioneers

These three clubs were all pioneers in building primitive ski tows using diesel engines and tractors to drive long, endless ropes, which skiers held on to - if they could keep hold of the icy rope.  It was quite dangerous but better than repeatedly climbing the hill. These clubs also built shelter huts before the first commercial lifts and tows appeared in 1961.

They also introduced regular ski bus travel and ski hire, using ex-army equipment. The limiting factor in those early days was road access. Mountain road snow clearing had a low priority and high level roads like the old Devil’s Elbow over from Blairgowrie to Braemar, were left snow blocked for weeks. The infamous Cockbridge to Tomintoul road was frequently snow blocked for months - it was the first to block and the last to be opened in Scotland, but, all that changed in the early 1960’s.

Bonanza

Thousands took to the winter hills and by the 1970’s over 20,000 people each week-end could be found at the ski centres of Cairngorm, Glencoe, Glenshee and later, the Lecht. In those days the ski season could last for five months in good years and tourist centres like Aviemore had a bonanza. The Aberdeen Club alone, was transporting 800 skiers to the snow each weekend and mountain car parks were overflowing with cars and coaches.

The fifth ski centre, Nevis Range on Aonach Mor by Fort William, with the first gondola lift in Scotland, opened in 1989, just as the first indications that global warming was affecting weather patterns. Since then, snow falls have been intermittent and much less reliable than in the glory days.  Cheaper air travel  radically changed the ski scene in Scotland, with high altitude resorts like Val d’Isere and La Plagne in France giving guaranteed snow and sophisticated uplift machines.

Ski racing developed very quickly with major sponsors such as Grampian Television, Nestle and cigarette and drinks companies backed the Scottish Senior and Junior Championships and the   British Alpine Championships held on Cairngorm. These big events  attracted Olympic and World Cup racers. It was an exciting time as tens of thousand young folk were introduced to the mountains for the first time. Scottish skiers began to dominate at the British Championships and in the Olympic Teams.

Times changed and the majority now fly to the Alps or N. America to ski and the ski centres, while ready to open for business whenever snow arrives, have had to diversify. The mountain railway on Cairngorm can do more business in the summer and Nevis Range has become an international mountain biking centre. But, there are thousands of “mature” Scots still out there who can recall the exciting days when the Scottish Skiing Revolution gripped the nation.

Picture shows an early snow making machine in operation at Braemar