Grizwald wrote:
As always with Scotland the advice is not to plan ahead and when it dumps be ready to go at short notice-if you can. Rossyhead also touches on the other problem that if they have the coverage then things might not be opened due to high winds.
I have family who live in Oban so I'm up that way several times over the course of the year, I always pack my planks If I'm up and there's snow I ski, if not I wait till next time. When it's good it's as good as ANYWHERE with the only limitation being the size of the areas but no issue for a long weekend and it beats the fridge any day. The Back Corries when open are superb and I love the feeling of isolation/wilderness.
Glencoe if coming from the South is also another possibility, with good coverage it offers a relatively large amount of on piste skiing. I'll be up at the start of Feb, it's about 4.5 hours door to door for us we'll stay in Glasgow the first night and hit the Glasgow fridge so my OH can stretch her ski legs prior to her first trip of the season in Austria the following weekend. If there's snow in GC or NR we'll also hit them on the Friday.
Don't let the Scotland bashers put you off. If you live within driving distance and are flexible it can be awesome.
Almost fogot to add IME the best condition over the last 4/5 years have been March-April time. 2 years ago I skied Nevis Range at the end of April and it was bloody glorious!
Prime example is his weekend-been snowing for 2days on a firm base so about 30-50cm lying on the slopes by the weekend. Apparently the back orries at NR are filling up twice as deep.
But it's due to be too windy to open all weekend :-(