For the last few years my wife and I have made an annual pilgrimage to Scotland to score some end of season Spring skiing.

It all started because we were restricted to the Easter school holidays and wanted to find some affordable skiing, plus it was a good excuse to check out resort skiing in Great Britain.

We tend to stay in Fort William and typically ski Glencoe and Nevis Range, and on occasion have driven over to Cairngorm. This year we stuck with Glencoe, and found lovely Spring conditions.

Glencoe. Spring Skiing.

The snow cover was slightly reduced on last year which meant a little walking to access the more interesting runs but the Spring Run was excellent as always and we lapped the Flypaper run a couple of times.

The Flypaper arguably counts as Steep Skiing with a quick check on the OS showing a pitch of around 45 degrees, although the actual pitch will depend on the snow profile at the time. This was my wifes first steep ski descent and she completed it in good style.

The Flypaper, Glencoe. Plus a small point release wet snow slide.

Glencoe has a lovely vibe. Many of the runs are unpisted and the whole place has a great unpretentious feel to it. For sure, it’s not like the Alps, but if you have a sense of adventure, like your skiing ‘raw’ then you’ll love it.

In the last couple of years Kenny Biggin has published off piste guides to both the Nevis and Glencoe area’s and these have proved a bit of an inspiration. Although I’ve not had chance to ski many of the runs in the book, this years trip added a new line to my ‘To Do’ list with the obvious narrow line which can be seen from the Glencoe access road:

Stob a’ Ghlais Choire – Ghlais Couloir. (#26 in Kenny’s book)

So, if you have a few days to spare consider Glencoe and Scotland. An easy drive, so no hanging around airports, no weight restrictions for kit plus you get stunning scenery on the drive up. Glencoe is open this year (2015) to the May bank holiday weekend while the back country gully skiing season stretches to June.