[Closed] Nevis and Glencoe

On February they are ski centres. No mountain biking.

Aye, you'll only get to ride the witches trail etc at Nevis in Feb.

And neither are expensive IMO, gondola/chairlift is sooooo much better than the usual uplifts.

As above, uplifted trails closed at that time of year. I've not ridden Glencoe yet but if red grade trail centre stuff or easier is what you're looking for I'd suggest the gondola access trails at Nevis Range will be a challenge to say the least, Top Chief black is one of the most technical black 'trail centre' trails I've ever ridden (Laggan black is probably harder but nowhere near as long), it was originally a red but I've met people on it who were absolutely petrified of going any further, having expected something like Glentress red trails. The world cup DH track should need no further comment
but its definitely worth the cost IF you enjoy technical riding. The new BLUE trail due to open nxt year looks like its gonna be a top to bottom flow trail and should open the hill up to a whole load of people who wouldn't ride the current trails

When the uplift's open, it's good value- the amount of riding you can do in a day with a gondola/chairlift is enormous.

At Glencoe you've pretty much got to be up for the dh to make it work as an uplift day, and Glencoe dh is fierce. Not ashamed to say that I can ride it but it shits me up a few times every time I do. Haven't ridden the new red (I gather it's quite changed from the original attempt at a red, which was actually good fun but shonky as all hell, and was falling apart before it was finished). But it's not as big a descent and the lift isn't as good. I'll be back there next year I think but I've no burning need to, whereas I totally missed not getting to Nevis this year.

Nevis though, the uplifted black (not a red any more) is hard, but it's the sort of hard that's fun to puzzle out if you're finding it difficult, or fun to blast once you've learned it. I've spent whole days doing nothing but that one trail and never felt it was worn out, you find new lines, ride the old ones better, get a bit more airbourne or a bit faster every time, it's pretty awesome. And there's a lot more of it than Glencoe.

And the world cup dh actually isn't that much harder, and it's also pretty rewarding even at lower speeds- I did a few runs on my hardtail and it obviously kicked my arse but it was so satisfying, and instead of battering through stuff/over stuff like on the DH bike, it felt really different to be basically dealing with every rock and root on personal terms 🙂 Add in the blue and it's going to be a really good day for most competent riders- most people will have 2 good long descents they can ride.

And there's tons more in the forest that's free to ride, and Laggan's not far, or kinlochleven if you like it nasty.

Glencoe Red is good fun, I looked at the DH but decided since nobody else was riding it to spot I didn't fancy it.

FW DH has been done on a hardtail many moons ago, punishing but oh so rewarding. Never done Top Chief I'm ashamed to say.

As for VFM, they are both uplifted and chair/gondola at that so you just session it as you feel. No question the value is there.

February they are ski centres. No mountain biking.

Hopefully Nevis will be a ski centre this February. They’ve said that they are closing for at least December & January unless things get a lot better 🙁

To be fair, they've also got no snow at the moment so that was probably a bit of an easier decision than usual. Wonder what would make it worth reopening- a good tip of snow alone or would it need Edinburgh to go tier 2?

I got the impression they wouldn’t open until restrictions were lifted considerably, but I couldn’t find the original post again that I’d seen.