Covid in Scotland: Snowsports in a pandemic
Scotland's mountain snowsports centres are preparing to open for the new winter season - with measures in place to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
Last season was cut short in March by the lockdown amid some of the best conditions for skiing and snowboarding in years. Glencoe Mountain and The Lecht plan to open for snowsports later this month. Nevis Range said it would open once both Scottish and UK-wide travel restrictions were relaxed. All the centres said they will have measures in place to protect staff and customers. These include pre-booking, track and trace, sanitising stations and take away-only meals at cafés. Nevis Range will have temperature checks before visitors can use its gondola, while Glencoe said it will be limiting numbers to help ensure social distancing. Essential travel The sites said all they needed now for a good 2020-21 season was for it to snow and travel restrictions to be eased enough to allow customers to visit. Glencoe Mountain in Glen Coe and Nevis Range near Fort William are in Highland, a level one area. The Lecht is in Aberdeenshire, which is in level two. But many of their usual customers travel from local authority areas where only essential travel is allowed. Andy Meldrum, of Glencoe Mountain, said: "We are looking forward to this ski season and think there will be good demand, so long as people can travel." About 90% of the centre's customers come from central Scotland, large parts of which are currently under stricter level three and four restrictions. Mr Meldrum said: "Our customers are mainly from Glasgow. But we are quite hopeful local people will support us and come from places like Oban and Fort William. "Our fingers are cross that by the time the ski season starts we will have less restrictions and people are able to travel." Glencoe is preparing to open for snowsports on 19 December, or before that if there is enough snow. Mr Meldrum said it would be better for the business to be open and making some money, than being closed and losing out on income. 'Lots of snow' The Lecht also plans to open for some skiing on 19 December. A spokeswoman said: "We have been busy putting in all the necessary precautions for Covid-19 following the guidelines from the Scottish government. "We decided to make our café into a takeaway service for just now to reduce the amount of people in the building and we are asking customers to pre-book equipment hire and where possible only one member of the household comes to collect lift passes." She added: "As always our hopes for the season is to have lots of snow and a busy season ahead, obviously it was a little disappointing last year that the snow came late on in the season and we had to close due to the Covid pandemic." Nevis Range, which opened its mountain bike trails over the summer, is closed temporarily but is planning to reopen during the winter. A spokesman said: "Nevis Range can't wait to be open again and are looking forward to having an amazing season as soon as the conditions allow." Trafford Wilson, of Snowsport Scotland, said restricted travel was a concern. He said: "We are very hopeful an exemption could be made for the ski industry because of the contribution it makes to local economies, the significant jobs it brings and also the tourism it attracts."