Lecht Ski Centre owners remain confident Moray venue’s future will be secured despite “dire” 2024 season
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THE owners of the Lecht Ski Centre say they are confident that they will hit their fundraising target after launching an appeal for help last week.
The centre, which sits on the border of Moray and Aberdeenshire, has remained a popular destination for skiers and snowboarders for nearly five decades after being established by the du Pon and McIntosh families in 1977.
It has remained in the families’ hands ever since but a “dire” 2024 season with very little snow has left the venue needing £35,000 to secure its future for another year.
Iain du Pon, Lecht Managing Director, said: “The Lecht has always continued by carefully balancing out the good years with the bad (especially more recently with environmental changes) and one of our best years would have been in 2021 when we were blocked from opening due to covid restrictions.
“2021 saw the largest snowfall at the Lecht for the longest duration over the winter in the last 15 – 20 years, and would have done a lot to shore up our finances and sadly with the appalling snow fall this year we have almost fully relied on our snow making facilities to provide snow sports which is very costly to do.”
To alleviate its financial struggles, the centre has attempted to diversify its offering in recent years to go beyond just snow sports.
That has included looking at alternatives to support its summer activities but the Lecht’s rural location coupled with unpredictable Scottish weather has made such ventures a “non-starter”.
Despite these struggles, Mr du Pon says the Lecht’s directors and senior management team remain focused on supporting the venue with many putting their own money in to keep it going.
He also revealed that the directors have not taken a wage from the centre for over two years.
“For us, it’s more of a labour of love than anything else and we want to see it thrive,” Mr du Pon added.
“I have no doubt that we will be successful in our efforts and see this through to next winter whilst keeping an eye on how we try to improve our snowmaking facilities and customer offerings to avoid such a hard season again, but this will take time to materialise.
“In the meantime it’s truly wonderful to read the lovely messages of support that we have had on our just giving page from far and wide, truly proving just how much the Lecht means to its customers and the Scottish snow sports family and community.”
