Scotland’s Snowsports Festival Off Due to Lack of Snow

28th February 2023

Last modified on March 3rd, 2023

The UK’s only on-snow ski and snowboard festival, The Mighty Coe, has been cancelled. There’s not enough snow on the mountain at Glencoe in the Scottish Highlands.

A packed programme of events on and off snow was planned for the festival.

It was due to take place from 10th to 12th March at Glencoe Mountain Resort.

Many of the top international ski and snowboard brands were due to attend, offering the opportunity for people to see and try next year’s kit and equipment.

Now, only the North Face and Ellis Brigham Snow Film Night will go ahead at the Glencoe Mountain Resort Café.

“This is obviously a huge disappointment, but the film night was always going to be one of the highlights, so we’re all really looking forward to it,” says event director Neil Dalgleish.

The Mighty Coe. Image © Scott Johnston

Alongside the ski and snowboard activity, the Mighty Après Party, supported by Drygate Brewing Company’s Seven Peaks IPA has also been cancelled for 2023.

PlanetSKI was at The Mighty Coe the first time the festival was staged in 2022 and has reported on the plans for this year’s event.

“The Mighty Coe festival will be back next year. Scotland has always been unpredictable for snow, but things really do seem to be getting worse, and certainly more unreliable,” says Neil.

“The festival raises money for Protect Our Winters – the climate advocacy organisation – and unfortunately that’s never felt more appropriate.”

The Mighty Après Party was to be a major new addition to the festival for 2023 and the organisers were hugely reluctant to halt all the plans for Glencoe’s first-ever big outdoor party.

“A big dance party in Glencoe will be amazing,” says Neil.

“It will bring something fantastic to one of the country’s most iconic locations. But you can’t have après if there’s no one there to ski in the first place.”

Glencoe last weekend. Image © Glencoe Mountain Resort

While the weather forecast does promise snow in the week running up to the festival, the organisers have had to make the call that it’s too little and too late.

“We expect new snow to come for that weekend and there’s a strong possibility the mountain will re-open,” says Neil.

“But the situation is so dire right now that we’d need major snowfall in order to run the festival successfully.

“With partners, brands and visitors due to attend from all over the country, we’re left with no choice – it would be too big a gamble.

“But we’ll try again next year – snowsport in Scotland has a lot of life in it yet, and we all need to do our bit to fight climate change.”