BEIJING Winter Olympics ski star Kirsty Muir has called on Scots to hit the slopes as she joins a campaign to encourage the nation to take up snow sports.
Snowsport Scotland hopes the Aberdeen ski sensation’s performance on her Winter Olympics debut at just 17 will inspire the next generation of Scottish snow sports stars.
The Here We Snow campaign found four in five Scots live within an hour of the country’s 21 ski centres.
Muir – who finished fifth in the 2022 Winter Olympic Games Big Air final before coming eighth in the Slopestyle event – learned to ski at the Aberdeen Snowsports Centre and The Lecht 2090 aged three years old, and has since risen to become one of freestyle skiing’s biggest talents.
The teenager, who received the 2022 Scottish Youth Award for Excellence in Mountain Culture, hopes her Olympic performances will inspire future generations.
Muir said: “Scotland is an amazing place to learn how to ski and snowboard, and so many people don’t know just how close they are to a slope.
“There are facilities all over the country that are awesome and it means that people of all ages can take their first steps on a slope. Whether on real snow, artificial snow or on dry slopes the most important thing is getting on those skis or snowboard and having a go, regardless of your age or experience. Olympic Games always capture the public imagination, and Scotland is in a perfect place to make the most of that extra interest in snow sports. I hope everybody gets out there and gives it a go.”
Before the pandemic, more than 750,000 tickets were sold at Scottish snow sports venues every year in an industry worth more than £30 million to the nation’s economy annually.
Trafford Wilson, CEO of Snowsport Scotland, said: “It’s immensely exciting to think that thousands of people who may have watched snow sports for
the first time these past two weeks, can get out there and have a go themselves.
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