Our past

The ever-changing slopes of Aberdeen Snowsports have been an iconic landmark of the city for decades. There has been a dry ski slope in Garthdee since 1967 – in fact, we recently celebrated the 50th birthday of the slope! In the old days it was called the Kaimhill Ski Slope and as the pictures show the equipment was somewhat different!

Now known as Aberdeen Snowsports the current facility was set up as a charitable trust in 2007 by Aberdeen City Council. 

The council still own the site and we at Aberdeen Snowsports manage and operate the slopes and the football pitches. Governed by a Board of Directors currently made up of representatives of Aberdeen City Council, RGU and University of Aberdeen and people from the business community in Aberdeen. The Board are responsible for the strategic management of the Centre and have delegated operational responsibilities to a senior management team.

Aberdeen Snowsports also works closely with the Aberdeen Active Partnership, Active Schools, Grampian Disability Sports, Sport Scotland, Snowsports Scotland, the British Association of Snowsport Instructors (BASI) and British Ski and Snowboarding (BSS). 

Our Present

Since taking over the facility, the current management has developed the range of activities on offer and increased participation across all sessions. Additional slopes have been added to increase capacity, a tubing slope has been constructed to provide a fun, inclusive activity hugely popular for parties and an airbag has been installed to provide a safe landing environment for developing freestyle manoeuvres.

With the implementation of a pathway taking beginners all the way through to high level coaching level in all disciplines there are multiple options for learners to find a session right for them. We are also proud to have a parallel pathway in place for individuals with additional support needs taught by adaptive qualified instructors. With success across disciplines in alpine race, freestyle ski and snowboard and from our Special Olympic athletes we continue to strive to strengthen links to and from the pathway from schools to on snow training.

A vision for the future

Through the development of the facility and targeting its strengths over the last 10 years Aberdeen Snowsports has its place as a centre of excellence for freestyle snowboarding and skiing in the UK. As such we are proud to have 14 GB Team and GB pathway athletes regularly training at the centre.

From these foundations our vision is to offer more to continue to be at the forefront of an industry that is continually evolving and where the skill levels of the athletes involved is increasing exponentially.

For this vision to be realised we need to be able to offer more to those new to the sport or to those currently unaccustomed to the artificial alpine experience.

We believe the key to increasing participation is to breakdown perceived barriers to the sport; everything from the addition of an alpine themed café / bar to encourage community engagement along with an improved slope surface for a friendly introduction – even perhaps artificial snow sledging play their part in creating a nurturing experience. For performance athletes and those looking to challenge their skills options of a longer steeper slope and reduced risk airbag slope to meet their needs would allow increased training capability without the need to travel.

This would be our long term vision – to develop a new site with facilities to suit everyone from the local community, beginners and GB team athletes alike across the range of snowsport disciplines – skiing, snowboarding and Nordic skiing.

We are hopeful the opportunity exists to develop this idea for a new centre of excellence in partnership with Aberdeen City Council and the sport’s governing bodies and continue to work towards this vision.