An alpine activity firm is celebrating the launch of its seventh winter season running Southampton’s ski centre.
Filarinskis has been welcoming more than 50,000 skiers and snowboarders a year to the council facility at the sports centre in Bassett. City leisure chiefs hope that the forthcoming Winter Olympics will inspire even more people to give skiing a go on the centre’s dry slopes.
Temperatures in parts of the Highlands have plunged as low as -18C overnight as much of Scotland had its coldest night of the winter.
Aviemore recorded the coldest February temperature since 1986 (-18C), Altnaharra in the Highlands was down to -15C and Aberdeen was -12C. The Met Office warned of freezing temperatures leading to the risk of widespread ice on untreated roads. Temperatures in Glasgow and Edinburgh were about -1C despite snow falls. There was more snow over much of southern and central Scotland overnight.
The freezing conditions provided a boost for Scotland's ski centres over the weekend. Skiers flocked to the slopes to make the most of the weather. At Glenshee Ski Centre the car park was full by 1000 GMT, with 1,500 cars parked. However, some people were reporting that their cars were getting stuck in the snow and Grampian Police was forced to close the snow gates on the incoming roads in an attempt to persuade new arrivals to go elsewhere. The centre's website said that conditions were "nearly perfect". At Nevis Range ski centre near Fort William there were about 800 people already on the slopes by 1030 GMT.
