The promise of an early ski season in Glen Shee has been literally stripped away by high winds.
Hopes that the resort could enjoy its third bumper festive season have headed rapidly downhill as the gales removed snow cover. With mild temperatures and heavy rain set to continue this week, it looks like early January before skiers can enjoy a prolonged run at the slopes.
The situation is a stark contrast to this time last year when the ski centre in Glen Shee was over a month into its best season for decades. However, pragmatic managing director Graham McCabe said there is no reason to be downbeat.
He said: ”It will turn around again and we still have a base there so we just need the bits joined up again. The first blast of snow will have us back in operation again.
”But there is an outlook for unsettled weather and no long, cold snap on the horizon. The wintry weather is coming off the north Atlantic and wind is our biggest enemy because we can’t get the ski lifts open.
”It’s looking like a week into January before we can really get going again.”
After getting the majority of runs operating last week, there was no activity on Tuesday. Every lift and slope was shut.
Graham said: ”That horrendous mild weather we had over Christmas Day and Boxing Day, preceded by Wednesday and Thursday’s exceptionally mild conditions, were bad enough. But the high winds work like a hairdryer, stripping the snow off the slopes quicker than any rain will.”
Far from being despondent, Graham said Scottish skiers are used to such conditions at this time of year, with 2010 and 2009 anomalies.
He said: ”You have to be used to everything. You can never guarantee when it will start snowing, how long it will last for or how long it will lie.
”There’s no pattern to the Scottish weather and, where we are, there are so many variables to the weather and our skiers are well used to it.
”In 1992 it was exceptionally early and went on until April and that can be contrasted with 2007 when there was next to nothing.
”We’ve been at this game long enough to know there are good times and bad ones and you just have to enjoy the good and ride out the bad.
”Skiers just have to be opportunistic. It’s a bit like going to the beach in Broughty Ferry some days it will be miserable and some will be like the Costa Del Sol.
”You have to take advantage when the weather’s right you can’t sit and wait for the next time because it could be ages. Scottish skiers know that by now.”
Rona Banks, partner at Banks of Perth, said businesses like her outdoor equipment specialist can’t afford to rely on Scottish skiing because of the vagaries of the weather.
She said: ”Before the last two years, for a decade we were not able to rely on Scottish skiing and sold far more to people travelling to Europe for skiing because the exchange rate makes this much more expensive out there and hire charges are astronomical.
”It’s a huge boost when there is Scottish skiing because so many people come from down south, so you can’t say it doesn’t affect us.
”But I’ve skied all my life and you could count on one hand the number of times you’ve been able to ski at New Year. It definitely helps when it arrives but you can’t rely on it.”
The Met Office said the weather forecast for the Glen Shee area remains wet and windy until the weekend.