Four Seasons: For a Magical Week, Edinburgh Was One of the World's Great Adventure Playgrounds for Snowsports

Summary

---

So the Canadian Tourism Commission invited me to spend the first few days of December in Alberta, covering the Ski World Cup at Lake Louise. I could have gone - still had enough annual leave in the bag - but in order to avoid turning into a jet-setting climate criminal like, for example, Donald Trump, I'm trying to limit myself to one flight-based trip per year. So, even though it caused me actual, physical pain in the pit of my stomach, I e-mailed them back and said no. Thanks for your kind offer of free transatlantic flights, free lift passes and free five-star accommodation at the gobsmackingly beautiful Chateau Lake Louise CTC, but I'll pass this time. It's an eco-thing. Then I locked myself in the toilets and sobbed for an hour.

But then a funny thing happened. It started snowing right here in Scotland. In fact, it snowed quite a lot. So instead of spending the week of 29 November - 5 December in Canada, I spent it trekking up to Arthur's Seat and Salisbury Crags every morning before work and snowboarding deep, light, fluffy powder, often on mouthwatering slopes of 35 degrees and more. As it was a once-in-a-lifetime sort of a week, I thought I should keep a diary to show the grandkids, who probably won't believe me when I tell them how good it was. So here are my personal highlights from the magical few days when Edinburgh was transformed into the world's unlikeliest ski resort.

See the full content of this document

Extract

---

Four Seasons: For a Magical Week, Edinburgh Was One of the World's Great Adventure Playgrounds for Snowsports

Monday, 29 November

A foot and a bit of snow has fallen overnight. Unbelievable. Up bright and early and leg it down to Holyroo...

See the full content of this document

---