Scotland's freeride ski & board series revived by Glenshee GOAT
The 2026 Scottish Freedom Series got off to a strong start at Glenshee thanks to a new contest format and plenty of fresh snow, writes Roger Cox
It feels like it’s been a long time,” says Iain Ramsay-Clapham, CEO of Snowsport Scotland. “March ’24 was the last one but it feels longer.” He’s referring to the return of the Scottish Freedom Series – Scotland’s freeride ski and snowboard contest programme. Last winter, it was forced to cancel all of its events due to the general lack of snow in Scotland’s mountains, and the winter before that only two events out of four were able to go ahead, for the same reason.
This year, however, in order to maximise the chances of getting things back on track, the SFS has switched from running contests on set dates to giving each one a month-long waiting period, and so far the experiment seems to be paying off. The first event of the season, the GOAT, took place at Glenshee on 31 January, the last day of the allotted waiting period, to general sighs of relief all round.
“Two years of not doing something is a big pause,” reflects Ramsay-Clapham, “so we were absolutely delighted to see it run.”
In spite of the fact that the contest was only officially called on a few days ahead of time, it still drew a healthy turnout of almost 30 competitors, although many more had registered to take part.
“The pop-up contest model will always give us more interest – more pre-registrations – than actual shows,” says Ramsay-Clapham. “I think that’s just down to people feeling positive and optimistic about taking part but then finding that, for whatever reason, circumstances get in the way of them being able to make it on the day.
“But all told, I was very happy with the best part of 30 competitors for a pop-up event. I think if that’s the model we move forward with, and we get 30 or even 30-plus, then I think that’s a model I’m happy to continue with, because it at least means we’re getting the event run, as opposed to scheduling it for a set date and then postponing or cancelling the whole thing.”
With Scotland enjoying some of the best snow conditions it’s seen in years, the GOAT was held in the steep, un-pisted area just to skier’s right of the Tiger run. As with all freeride contests, the judges weren’t simply looking for speed from the top of the course to the bottom but also flow, creativity in terms of line choice and – where possible – aerial manoeuvres; the whole package, in other words.
Snow conditions were variable – firm and icy at the top of the competition face, not far off ideal in the middle and then sticky towards the bottom – requiring riders to adjust their approaches accordingly. And while there weren’t any big cliff drops to contend with as there are at some other SFS venues, notably Glencoe, a combination of cornices and wind lips did provide a few opportunities for riders to get airborne.
“It was a great challenge for the riders,” says Ramsay-Clapham, “and there were some really interesting lines put together by people. Also, the GOAT is the first event of the year and for the first event to feel a little bit more mellow for everyone, I think that makes it a really good starting point, particularly for those who are new to freeride. We asked for a show of hands for everyone for whom this was their first freeride event, and it would’ve been about a third of the field.”
In the men’s ski category Bradley Scott came out on top, with British Freeride head coach Euan Baxter showing the kids how it’s done on the way to taking the men’s snowboard title. Alison Rowe won the women's snowboarding but Bridget Reid found herself all alone in the women's ski category - something Ramsay-Clapham is keen to remedy.
“We’ve had quite large female ski fields before,” he says, “but clearly we need to encourage others to come along. We used to have a team that called themselves the Coe Girls – just a really good group who connected well, and they would just come and ride together. I do believe that that ethos of being together, the community part of the Scottish Freedom Series, has always been really important, and I think we need to build on where we are now.”
One big positive to come out of the GOAT was the performance of the junior freeriders.
“Rather than trying to run a separate set of events for juniors,” says Ramsay-Clapham, “we’ve ended up slotting them into the main events. Euan [Baxter] was there to coach the youngsters and for some of them it was their first freeride event, so that was really good – and of course he got a run himself and put down a fantastic line.
“The great thing is that these kids have had more freeride training this season already than we had in the whole of last season, or indeed in the season before that, just because we’ve been blessed with snow. So they came into the GOAT having been out on the snow, ripping it up, being coached by Euan and the other British Freeride coaches for the last few weeks, so that was always going to stand them in good stead.”
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With this winter continuing to deliver plenty of white stuff, it seems likely that the second SFS event of 2026 will take place later this month, potentially at Nevis Range.
“My ambition has always been to bring variety to the series,” says Ramsay-Clapham, “and I’m really keen to see if we can get an event running at Nevis. I think if we could deliver something at Nevis, either on the weekend of the 14th or the 21st, that would be great.”
For more on the Scottish Freedom Series, see www.britishfreeride.org
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