Skier Tackles Scary Line in Unexpected Locale: Scotland (Video)
When most North American skiers start planning trips across the pond, they think of the Alps, towering alpine peaks, and heaping plates of spaghetti.
It might come as a surprise, then, that there are other places to look for snow. And no, we’re not talking about more obvious alternatives—we’re talking about Scotland.
In a recent video, Scottish freeskier Kieran Troup took the internet on a tour of the lines available in his homeland.
This one, called Aladdin’s Couloir, clearly isn’t for the faint of heart.
Check it out below.
The 2026 POWDER Photo Annual is here! Look for a print copy on a newsstand near you, or click here to have a copy shipped directly to your front door.
“Scottish steeps skiing is something else!” Troup wrote. “The whole time I’ve been freeriding I have never actually skied in Scotland – I’ve always been away…”
“Leaving Austria early for this was so worth it and it feels so good to finally tick off some of the lines I’ve heard so much about!”
“Something else” is a gentle way to put it. I counted at least two moments in Troup’s video where falling isn’t an option. But hey, survival skiing, when you’re in the mood for it, can be a lot of fun—just ask Candide Thovex.
Scotland isn’t all heart-in-your-throat backcountry lines, though.
The region has a small selection of ski resorts, including Cairngorm and Glencoe. These aren’t, as you’d expect, sprawling mountain destinations like you’d find in North America or Switzerland. But you can ski there. And the hardy locals, presumably, are more than happy to work with what they have.
At the same time, these resorts may be larger than you expect. Glenshee spans 2,000 acres and operates more than 20 lifts—although most of those lifts are surface lifts.
In a YouTube video, skier Alexander Fyfe checked out the digs. The slopes resemble some of New Zealand’s ski fields. They’re wide open, treeless, and the snow coverage is mixed. As Fyfe put it: “If you can ski in Scotland, you can ski anywhere!” That’s a sales pitch we can get behind.
Related: Alta Just Revived a Legendary Powder Skiing Tradition That Disappeared for 28 Years
Leave a Reply