Glencoe ski site 'is world's snowiest'

The ski centre at Glencoe Mountain had the most new snow of any winter sports resort in the world on Wednesday, its operators have claimed.

Spokesman Andy Meldrum said data collected by the British Ski Club revealed the area experienced a fall of 80cm over 24 hours.

Heavy snowfalls were also experienced at other Scottish ski resorts.

Snow fell to a depth of 70cm at CairnGorm, 60cm at both The Lecht and Nevis Range, and 50cm at Glenshee. Mr Meldrum said: "We have had a colossal amount of snow. At car park level we've probably got a metre of snow. "The amount of snow on the mountain is absolutely epic." Mr Meldrum added: "We must have a metre and a half of snow up there."

Glencoe came out ahead of the Sugarbush and Mount Snow resorts in the USA which had 76cm of new snow on Wednesday.

All Scottish ski areas open for first time this season

All five Scottish ski centres will be open by Wednesday this week, as heavy snow in Western Scotland allowed the two remaining centres yet to open for 2008-9 – Glencoe and Nevis Range – to open for the first time.

Glencoe plans to open this Wednesday at 10am, a spokesman commented, “Heavy snow over the last couple of days has improved the overall situation on the mountain. All runs are now complete although some are narrow in places.”

A spokesperson for Nevis Range to the north commented, “We are open for skiing! Fresh snow at all levels and most main runs complete but unconsolidated. Pisting is in progress and more runs will open as the week progresses.”

There has been less fresh snow in the East where the other three centres are located, and have been operating intermittently since back on Halloween 2008. However all three remaining centres there (Cairngorm, Glenshee and The Lecht) are open with limited terrain.