I have never skied in Scotland before.  Like many from the south of England it seems so much easier to fly to The Alps where the terrain, the weather and the resorts are better. But it raises an interesting question. What exactly does better mean?

I have just spent 2 days skiing in Cairngorm and, though it is nothing like the Alps, I had a superb and very, very interesting time.  Some of my trips round the Alps blend into each other but I know that this one will be distinctive in the memory.

It was exciting driving up the road to Cairngorm from Aviemore as, even though I had some preconceptions about what to expect, I really had no idea. It was exciting and felt a bit like a blind date. I had an image of what it would be like, but no real idea if we would get on.

The first thing that struck me was how basic it is.  There are a few lifts, some snow, some rudimentary buildings providing food and shelter and that's about it.  But what else do you need?

In many ways it felt genuine as all the people in the car parks preparing to brave the weather and those out on the hill were there because they loved skiing and snowboarding.  They weren't the poseurs and loud-mouthed English middle classes that seem to stand out so much in Verbier, The 3 Valleys and Val d'Isere.  Here were people with a real passion and who were prepared to make an effort. The gear was old fashioned, the clothing hardly the latest fashion, but the passion for snow sports was very, very real.

This winter Scotland has seen the most fantastic snowfalls but it is still an effort to ski here.  The queues are long and the lifts basic compared to the mega resorts of the Alps and Cairngorm would cause many from those resorts and those who like skiing there to run a country mile.

But if they did so then more fool them.  You have to treat skiing in Scotland for what it is and not compare it to anywhere else.

For me I somehow felt I was going back to the roots of British skiing and I relished coming down runs I had only heard and read about; The White Lady, Coire Cas and the West Wall.

The slopes seemed to contain ghosts whether it be from the hey day of Scottish skiing in the 1970's and 80's, Frith Finlayson and Ali Ross through to the British racers, Alain Baxter, Emma Carrick-Anderson and Sean Langmuir who had started here. The Bell brothers had raced here as children, as had Konrad Bartelski.

The British Olympic athlete Lesley McKenna was out somewhere I was told as I shared a T-bar with a young snowboarder.  She was back for some home cooking after The Vancouver Games apparently.

There wasn't any terribly difficult skiing but there was much more than I had expected.  It has a dozen lifts and on my visit some of the runs were still closed because of the huge amounts of snow that had recently fallen.  There was though more than enough for a full day's skiing; maybe standing in long lift queues helped as it reduced the available skiing time.

Rather bizarrely I actually came to enjoy the queuing.  Not only was it very organised with long lines developing, but also it meant the only way to pass the time was to chat.  Everyone just chatted to the people next to them about the weather, the snow any anything lese that came to mind. It was one of the most sociable ski resorts I have ever been to.

It clearly is not the place to book up months in advance for a one week annual ski holiday, but anyone who is remotely interested in skiing and has a love of the mountains should give it a go.

As I said earlier if you keep it off your list of places to ski then you do so at your own loss.  I know I will return to the ski hills of Scotland and the sooner the better. There's still 8 weeks of the season left and with the huge amounts of snow here conditions should still be good until Easter.

If you are a new reader to PlanetSKI then please take a look round the rest of the site and do come back, you may find a few things to interest you.

We have a few stories about Scotland up at the moment. For news of the latest digging out see here and also for news of how the resort needed to use explosives to make the ski area safe.

Don't forget to check out the Photos of The Week on the home page featuring some images from Scotland and a video report of skiing in Cairngorm from James Cove.

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