Scotland’s five ski areas recorded less than 80,000 skier visits between them last winter, less than 20 percent of the numbers that used to visit the country’s slopes in their heyday in the 1960s and '70s. The most popular area remains Cairngorm, above Aviemore, which accounted for about half the total. Least visited was Glencoe with 7,300 skier days logged as recently as 2000/1. The areas reported a combined 365,000 visits, with Glenshee the most popular with 118,000 visit – last season it was just 8,500.

The country’s ski areas have suffered a succession of lackluster winters and have limited snowmaking coverage, in part due to the difficulty of making snow as temperatures tend to fluctuate widely in the winter and are often too warm for snow making.

All is not lost for snow in Scotland, however, as a year-round indoor snow center, the SNO!zone has opened near Glasgow, attracting far more visitors than all of the regular ski hills.