The longest and coldest winter in the Highlands since records began a century ago has been a bonus for ski centres.
Glenshee in particular is celebrating-having just passed the 100,000 skiers mark for the first time in 10 years.
Company director Stewart Davidson said, “We have the best figures since the 2000/2001 season.
“Then they hit 118,000. We are over 100,000 and should have weeks to go yet.”
He added, “We had over 5000 out just over the weekend.”
Glenshee Ltd bought the former Glenshee Chairlift Company Ltd from the receivers in 2004. It was a buyout by management, staff and interested local organisations.
There have been some hard times though with just 8500 customers in the 2006/7 season.
Mr Davidson said, “I have seen the season start as late as February some years.
“The main bonus this year has been almost continuous cover rather than it being off and on.”
He added, “We have had alpine conditions-blue skies and clear conditions-for six weeks now.”
It is just over three weeks till the Easter holidays and the huge amounts of snow should last until then as temperatures are freezing each night.
Mr Davidson said, “The season should mean that we have money to re-invest in the centre and I just hope that this is the start of a trend for more winters like this.”
Other avenues looked at include more summer use, with mountain biking one activity being targeted.
This has proved a great success at Nevis Range beside Fort William but ski centres now seem to need activity all the year round-rather than relying solely on snowy winters.