UK's lesser-known ski holiday destination has 40 slopes and £34 ski lift passes
The UK is home to a ski resort with 40k of slopes and adult day passes available for just £34.
Although it's probably not the first thing you think of when you imagine a weekend break in Scotland, if you head north from Edinburgh, go past Dundee and climb into the mountains of the Cairngorms National Park and you can go skiing at Glenshee - widely considered to be the best ski resort in the country, in new research by outdoor brand Blacks.
Not only that, it is the largest ski resort in the UK, boasting 40km of ski slopes which are serviced by 21 ski lifts when everything is running at full pelt. Runs extend across four mountains and down three valley, proving beginners with some gentle green runs to get stuck into and a pair of blacks for the more advances snowsters.
Those clipping on the sticks for the first time can learn to snowplough at road-level close to the central hub until they're ready to hop on a lift that'll drag them up to the more challenging runs. Across the range intermediate skiers will find 26 blue and red runs, varying from the long and exhilarating to the short and steep.
Glenshee is the largest ski resort in the UK (PA)Glenshee has a wide open area for skiing known as the Thunderbowl, a sheltered expanse over the back at Coire Fionn and bumps, jumps and a natural half-pipe of Meall Odhar, as well as a testing Slalom Race Track at Cairnwell.
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The most experienced skiers can test their skills on two black runs at Glenshee including the infamous, mogul strewn Tiger which has been a formidable part of the Scottish ski experience for years. When conditions allow there is also some freeriding to be had with Carn Aosda and Meall Odhar offering some steep and varied terrain.
While Glenshee may feel icy cold to those who live a little further south, it is not blessed with the kind of deep snow that covers the Alps for most of the winter season, given it only rises to 1,060m. To keep the slopes open for as long as possible extensive snow-making is employed at the resort.
A day at Glenshee is potentially very cheap for a family compared to other skiing options, with a full-price adult ticket costing £34, junior and senior tickets £26, beginners £23 and under-5s £3.
"We visited here with the kids to try to get more snow development time without the expense of going to the Alps. It ticked all the boxes. The runs and lifts were very limited due to weather but there was enough for us. We basically had three days with a couple of lessons and got the kids to parallel which is a huge advantage for going abroad skiing," one happy customer recently wrote on Tripadvisor.
"I thought the artificial snow slope was very challenging and great to develop skills on. Although is comparatively short in length the narrowness and gradient offers so much more ‘skiing’ than learning on those long large gentle plains in the Alps."
The resort does have a few negative reviews online however, with some complaining about how difficult they found it to contact to the resort and others expressing sadness at the lack of snow when they visited.
You can find out more on blacks.co.uk.
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