Winter Sports in Scotland

To the more adventurous among us, Scotland is a huge playground. If you are the kind of person who’s willing to brave some tough weather conditions to get your kicks, Scotland is definitely for you. We’ve put together an introduction to what’s on offer across Scotland during winter.

Before you head off on any winter adventure, check the Mountain Weather Information service for essential and highly accurate weather forecasts to make sure you make it back safely every time.

Hillwalking

Scotland’s highest mountains are known as Munros. To be classed as a Munro, it must be over 914.4 metres (3,000 feet). A great resource for planning your route is the Munro Magic website.

If you’re not happy venturing into the mountains on your own, there are numerous outdoor pursuit centres throughout the Highlands that provide guided hiking for groups and run many outdoor skills courses.

Canyoning

Canyoning combines the best of all outdoor activities. It involves walking, scrambling, climbing, abseiling and swimming through deep gorges and canyons. You could be climbing up a rockface, abseiling down a waterfall and slithering down natural rock slides. Companies like Activity Scotland provide guided groups with kit and expertise to ensure you have a safe and fun time.

Climbing and abseiling

Most outdoor pursuits centres offer courses for all levels, whether you want to stay indoors, get out on a sheer rock face or climb a frozen waterfall.

A great place to base yourself is Ice Factor in Kinlochleven. It has 600m² of indoor climbing walls for all levels to get you into the swing or if the weather is bad. There’s an indoor ice wall – larger than any in the world. For post-climbing relaxation there’s a sauna and bar.

Skiing and snowboarding

Although most of the mountain terrain is rugged and hard to ski there are plenty of great places if you know where to look. For on-piste skiing there are five areas in Scotland to choose from:

• Nevis range
• Glenshee
• Glencoe
• Cairngorm
• The Lecht

Skiing is rather more rough and ready than the average Alpine resorts, but far more exhilarating as a result. Ski season is slightly later than other European resorts, usually starting in January and going through to April.

Take a look at the Ski-Scotland website for information on all five resorts, snow conditions and web-cams.

For the more adventurous skier, most outdoor centres offer ski touring and mountaineering and off piste skiing. Ski mountaineering uses specially designed for skiing uphill. This is a great way to see the mountains and find powder snow. But you need to be fit – there are no ski lifts to get you to the top – just your own muscle power.

For guided trips and lessons see Adventure Scotland and most of the other centres mentioned on this page.

Water sports

Water sports are possible all year round here. As well as guided trips and lessons, you can hire kayaks, canoes and open boats from centres like Ace Adventures. The sheer volume of water that flows from the Scottish mountains means there are some serious white water rivers to raft on throughout winter.

Mountain biking

If you get your highs hurtling downhill on two wheels (or even one – see the BBC report on mountain unicycling) Scotland offers a lot of options. One of the best places to head is Hub in the Forest, Glentress in the Borders. For anything from gentle family rides to vertigo-inducing downhill drops why not try Ride Fort William. You can also jump on the ski lift up if you’re just looking for the downhill rush.

Dog sledding

You can take an exhilarating dog-sled rides through the forest of the Cairngorms with Sled Dogs, whether there’s snow or not.

Safety

Many of these also offer specific mountain survival techniques, for instance Glenmore Lodge and Braemar Mountain Sports. These winter skills courses cover aspects of survival techniques like navigation, snow holing (digging a tunnel into snow to sleep in), self-arrest (rescuing yourself from a fall on ice using an ice axe) and mountain first aid. All essential skills for winter hillwalking.