There’s been a bit of a whirlwind of uncertainty surrounding the future of Hillend in Edinburgh over the past few years. Back in 2010, the Hillend Snowsports Centre, whose winding mats actually make up the longest dryslope in Europe, was almost nudged into premature retirement after the local council could no longer afford to splash out the moolah for it. Since then, and thanks to a 27,000 strong online petition, fresh funds have been secured and the slope, which has hosted many events including the annual British University Dryslope champs, is set for a massive £600,000 facilities investment. What a result eh?  Just shows what we can do if we all pull together! All this also comes as music to our ears following the gutting news that one of the UK’s best loved dryslopes, the Sheffield Ski Village burned to the ground back in April.

The old, worn Dendex is set to be replaced by a brand new Neveplast material which, according to Snowtraxx managing director Stuart Murphy is:

the first and only material to be officially certified as having the same slipperiness as real snow and has incredible edge hold

UPDATE: We’ve just been informed that it’s only a new baby slope that has this Neveplast stuff on it, to be served by its own travelator. Pretty underwhelming really and we apologise for the inaccuracy here (the press release for this was rather ambiguous to say the least)! At least Hillend is still staying open though eh? Roll on BUDS!  

For the littleuns, four ‘Tubby’ snow-tubing runs are also due to be installed alongside a brand new travelator system (“Gladiators… READY!”). The bulk of the work is due to be completed by the end of August and we’re well chuffed that the Hillend legacy will live on. For more info on the new technology, check out the Neveplast website.