A fun pagan ritual – called The Snowbringer – is to be held in the Highlands to encourage the “snow gods” to send plenty of the white stuff this winter.
The exact nature of the ceremony is being kept secret by organisers of the event, which will be held at Glencoe Mountain Resort in Lochaber on Saturday December 6.
The Snowbringer, which is billed as a pre-season Scottish winter festival, begins at 3.30pm and the “offering to the snow gods” is due to start at 4pm.
One of the organisers Kenny Biggin, of SkiMountain, said: “It could possibly involve fire and it could involve dressing up, but, other than that, we are preserving the mystery until the event.”
He added: “We were going to hold a backcountry gathering, but there’s one of those at Nevis Range on November 29, so we decided to do something a bit different and came up with the idea of The Snowbringer.
“It will be a bit of a party, a bit of a celebration and a lot of fun.
“It will be something that everyone who is there can get behind and support as the Snowbringer is sent off to the snow gods to get more snow coming to Scotland this year.”
His new book – Scottish Offpiste Skiing & Snowboarding: Glencoe – will also be launched at the event at 5pm. This will be followed by a buffet in Ossian’s Cafe at the resort and The Snowbringer Humdinger Party.
Andy Meldrum, who is managing director of Glencoe Mountain Resort, said he hoped the ritual would achieve its aim.
He said: “Last winter was an exceptional season for snow. It was incredibly mild, but really wet and the temperature stayed even for the whole of the winter so we had snow for months on end.
“We are obviously hoping for another good season this winter, but we just have to accept that there are good seasons and bad seasons.”