January 22nd 1984

2500 skiers trapped at Glenshee

The Glenshee countryside. Picture by Chas Webb

There had been heavy falls of snow all the week, a circumstance that created major problems for the people of Perthshire but delighted the skiers. On Saturday January 21st, they flocked to the skiing slopes at Glenshee from all directions ignoring forecasts of further heavy snow. When the snow finally arrived it was in the form of a blizzard and within a short time all exit roads from Glenshee were impassable.

Around two thousand five hundred people spent a very uncomfortable night at the chairlift. Food supplies ran out and the sub-zero temperatures proved an additional hazard. The next day a team of snow ploughs cut their way through to the beleaguered skiers and a convoy of twenty seven buses and several hundred cars made their way slowly south. Even so, many vehicles had to be abandoned on the approach roads to Glenshee. Only eight people required attention and they were flown by helicopter to Ninewells Hospital.

Reactions to the incident were varied. There were those who complained of the lack of food and warm shelter as if the chairlift company should have laid in supplies to feed the extra two thousand five hundred. There were those who praised the efforts made by the roadmen and the police to get the skiers home after only one night of discomfort.

And there were those who prophesied dismally that this would be the end of skiing in Glenshee, forgetting of course that what had happened was a wonderful example of massive free publicity. The skiing public made the assumption that if there was such snow in Glenshee there should be worthwhile skiing there too. For the rest of the season skiing in Glenshee boomed and continued to grow in subsequent years. New areas were opened up and to a large extent the size of the car park became the main constraint on the number of visitors.

Snow gates have now been erected on the approach roads and when heavy snow is forecast the police give warning half an hour before the gates are to be closed. Those who remain do so at their own risk.