Lecht

The Day Lodge is the hub of the resort and is home to the resort’s offices, catering and ski hire facilities, but aside from this there is nothing up on the hill. You’ll need to stay either side of the Lecht Pass (note that the A939 road is prone to closure in bad weather) as there is no accommodation on the mountain. On the Inverness side there is the small village of Tomintoul seven miles away or Grantown-on-Spey twenty miles down the valley, whilst Royal Deeside and the towns of Braemar and Ballater lie on the Aberdeen side of the pass.

As with all Scottish resorts, conditions can at times be unreliable (although the snowfactory has mitigated against this somewhat), but on a good day, skiing in Scotland can rival the world’s best – and you’d be certainly hard pushed to find more spectacular scenery. For this reason stay as flexible as possible and be prepared to drop everything and dash to the mountains when conditions are good!

The runs at Lecht sit either side of the A939, with the majority on the westerly slopes to catch the drifts from the prevailing winds. Immediately outside the Day Lodge are some fantastic beginner slopes, supplemented by a snowfactory and snow machines to ensure reliable coverage. Progression on to longer, but still gentle runs is great – particularly near the Eagle lifts.

Steeper challenges can be found off the Buzzard on the other side of the road or off the Falcon and Harrier drags.

Lecht has fantastic beginner facilities, which crucially are located right outside the Day Lodge – perfect for a warming break from the slopes on a cold day. The magic carpet makes access even easier for first timers and the addition of the snowfactory has made a huge difference to snow reliability.

Progression on to the gentle blues by the Eagle drags is then very good.

The Snowy Owl chairlift serves most of the resort’s blue and red runs, making this a great place to head to if draglifts are not your thing. Although more limited in extent and vertical than at other Scottish resorts, the runs have decent variety, particularly when the Buzzard side of the hill is open.

>Unless the Harrier and Buzzard lifts are open there is little to entertain more advanced skiers and snowboarders. That being said, there can be some fun off piste lines in between the marked pistes and the resort also sets up terrain park features when conditions allow.