Glenan Lodge Guest House

Scotland's winter sports centre

by iaint

Skiing & snowboarding.

It's not the Alps, but it's the best you'll get in the UK. The winter weather is so variable that you can't expect good conditions even in mid winter.

I took my son and his schoolfriend in February 09, and they had a lot of fun. Lots of snow - the most for many years.

Getting there was tough - snowing throughout the 2 hour drive.

Get there early if the weather & conditions are right - the car parks were full by late morning one of the days. They have equipment hire on the mountain, and also plenty places in town. It was £30 for boots and skis for a 15 y-o for 2 days. Some places will take advance bookings. We used Nevisport on the main street.

A ski pass was £17.50 for the full day. They also offer half day passes. Buy in town rather than on the mountain, to avoid long queues. See the website below as they sell passes in town.

www.aviemoreskischool.co.uk

Popular with skiers and climbers

by carlrea

"Aviemore - gateway to the Cairngorms"

To be honest Aviemore was very much a last minute destination for us as we had travelled to Nairn and found it not quite to our taste we opted to go to Aviemore at the last minute and we wished we had stayed for longer as the place is so beautiful although very small.
The only fault we found is that the campsite was a bit rocky and we found difficulty pegging out the tent but in the end we managed it and decided to explore the town.
Unfortunately it was getting dark as i would like to have taken a trip up Cairn Gorm - but never mind there is always next time.

"Wrap up warm!!"

The Cairngorm area is the ideal place for outdoor activities. Apart from the mountains themselves, there's also the Glenmore Forest Park to explore, watersports on Loch Morlich and Loch Insh, plus fishing, skiing, cycling and golf.

The Cairngorm mountain range stretches for 50 miles with almost 50 peaks over 3000 feet and several others rising over 4000 feet high. The Cairngorm plateau is a vast featureless stoney desert which is a unique example in this country of a sub-arctic ecosystem (not the place to get lost on a misty day).

Three of Scotland's best hill passes go through here leading to semi-permanent snow fields which can persist into the summer months, remnants of the ancient natural Caledonian Forest and features carved out by the last Ice Age.

The Gaelic name for the Cairngorms is Am Monadh Ruadh (the Red Hills) due to the pink granite on the plateau. However the name Cairn Gorm means Blue Mountain as the peak apparently looks blue from a distance. Cairn Gorm itself is 1245 metres high (4084 feet) and can be easily visited on a fine day in summer.

"The Winking Owl"

We went here to grab a bite to eat.
Although not the best meal i have had it was pretty good and it was also very good value for money.

The winking own is traditional sort of pub with no aires or graces and your locals seemed to congregate in here for a beer or a malt so it couldn't have been that bad!