It may be overlooked by the mighty, menacing Buachaille Etive Mor, which crouches unflinching under the nip of climbers' crampons, but on a good day, Meall a'Bhuiridh in Glencoe can be much scarier. When cloaked in a hearty dump of snow, its steep runs, sharp turns and unrivalled views across Rannoch Moor to Schiehallion make it arguably the best ski destination in Scotland - and a serious rival, say some, to the best European destinations.

"The standard of skiing is extremely high in this most sporting mountain in the West Highlands, which holds snow from December into late May most years," said the writer Tom Weir.

Meall a'Bhuiridh's notoriously savage weather served as a magnet for the macho working-class Glaswegians who would venture up its north face every winter weekend dressed, at best, in climbing gear or, at worse, in plimsolls and anoraks.

"You go up there in whiteout and ski down Happy Valley by instinct rather than vision," said Weir. "You find yourself enjoying it and go back for more."

But that was in 1973, in the halcyon days when the Scottish winter meant "falls of powdery snow, sparkling sun and windless air" at hill level and when Glencoe Mountain Resort was second to none. Its original name, the White Corries, now seems particularly poetic.

"When we got proper winters, Glencoe was fantastic, and going there was like ski mountaineering," says Cameron McNeish, editor of The Great Outdoors magazine. "I would describe it as the heart and soul of Scottish skiing."

Thirty-five winters on, however, the picture has somewhat changed. In its 51 years of life, Glencoe mountain resort - Scotland's first and oldest commercial ski centre, and the one closest to Glasgow - has endured a long run of mixed fortunes. Unremittingly mild weather, coupled with Meall a'Bhuiridh's relatively low summit, have been the main culprits.

But a much-criticised failure to market the resort to the fashionable Alpine ski set has contained its appeal largely to the home market - a unique characteristic that could yet prove to be its saving.

At other Scottish resorts, however, the need to diversify into other outdoor activities has been acknowledged and met.

The Nevis Range at Aonach Mor has opened its state-of-the-art mountain gondola system, and this year hosted the mountain bike world championships, which attracted international competitors from 50 countries. Mountain biking is fast becoming one of Scotland's biggest participation sports and is a major part of VisitScotland's overseas marketing strategy.

In its attempt to keep visitors coming whatever the weather, the Aviemore ski centre at Cairngorm has opened its famous funicular railway.

As a reluctant nod to the greening of its slopes, the White Corries was renamed Glencoe Mountain Resort (GMR) in 2004, when it was bought over from the Glenshee Chairlift Company (which also owned the ski resort at Glenshee) after it had run up debts of £1m. But a simple name change alone was never going to be enough to save it. Earlier this week, GMR went into liquidation and was again rescued in a fresh management buy-out led by businessman and former fund manager David Campbell, who has run the operation for the last three years but has formed a new company, GM Chairlift Ltd.

So what makes him so confident it will work this time around? After all, the prognosis for the future of skiing in this country is not good. To coincide with the UN conference in Bali on climate change, the Met Office Hadley Centre and the University of East Anglia this week released preliminary global temperature figures for 2007, placing this year as the third-warmest since nationwide records began in 1914. Predictions that things can only get worse are based on the fact that the top 11 warmest years all occurred in the last 13 years.

A Met Office spokesman told The Herald yesterday: "The prospects of an increasingly warm climate is not the best news for the ski resorts of Scotland. The Met Office Hadley Centre climate models predict winter to become milder and wetter as we head through the 21st century. The last time that mean winter temperatures in Scotland were below average was in 1997."

Worse, the United Nations Environment Programme has warned that in 30 to 50 years, there may be no sites lower than 1500m (4900ft) where skiers might rely on finding snow. The summit at Glencoe is 3636ft, while Scotland's highest resort, the Nevis Range at Aonach Mor, is 4000ft.

It's enough to make ski fanatic Dr Colin Braithwaite, of Glasgow University's Geographical and Earth Sciences Department, conclude: "This is bad news for skiing in Scotland. I'd say David Campbell is being extremely optimistic."

But 42-year-old Campbell, who is not allowed to reveal how much money he raised to buy out GMR, is rather more bullish. He is working to a five-year business plan, and aims to develop the ski-centre site to "catch up with Cairngorm and the Nevis Range".

"Of course I've read the runes, and of course we have to look to the future," he says. "We're not giving up on skiing, but if meteorological predictions for the next 20 years are right then we will have to move into other areas. Even if people aren't able to ski it won't mean the centre will have to close. If the future is green rather than white, we will have to morph into different business areas."

Campbell has already overseen the establishment of an environmentally-friendly mountain bike track which opened last summer and will host the Scottish Downhill Open in July 2008, and the Glencoe chairlift has been fully adapted for mountain biking. The mountain-biking season runs from April to September and is therefore longer, he says, than the traditional tourist season.

Under the Highlands & Islands development plan, Glencoe is part of the Lochaber plan, which also includes the Nevis Range. Campbell hopes to be able to build more campsites and bunkhouses for walkers on the West Highland Way - there are no bunkhouses between Bridge of Orchy and Kinlochleven. "We have to achieve a critical mass in order to become a destination people want to stop at," he says.

Developing the site for skiing is vital, too. "Research done by Highlands & Islands Council shows that there has been no major change to snowfall in the last 150 years," says Campbell. "Prediction is extremely difficult, but more volatility could actually mean more snow and colder temperatures in Scotland."

A new funicular and gondola system from the car park to the summit, to match those of Glencoe's rivals, could cost tens of millions of pounds. This, says Campbell, should be funded by the Scottish Government and, to this end, he says he is already lobbying local authorities and the government for support.

"Look at the European model," says Campbell. "Local councils develop skiing uplift infrastructures because they see them as a way of transporting tourists. They take a 20-30 year view on these and let them out to ski-centre companies. The local government pays for that infrastructure.

"If the Scottish Government wants to continue to have a skiing and mountain biking industry, then it will have to fund the uplift."

Will it all be worth it? Meteorologist and BBC Scotland weather presenter Heather Reid believes there is still a viable skiing industry in Scotland for at least another 10-20 years, and that centres should capitalise on the amount of snow we're going to get.

"Global temperatures are rising, but research shows that while there will be an increase in rainfall at sea level, at altitude there will be more snow falling," she told The Herald yesterday.

"It looks more difficult to predict what will happen in 50 years and beyond, but in the shorter term I think that's quite good news for ski centres in Scotland."

She points out that the Bali climate change conference is focusing on what's likely to happen at sea level - in other words, on what we will experience on the high street.

"Research at hill level is being done, though more needs to be done," she says. "At the moment this shows that while there is to be more precipitation - rain, hail and sleet - at sea level, at height that will actually mean more snow. There's time left, and who knows? We may possibly have some excellent conditions."

Which must surely be good news for Glencoe. Additional glad tidings could yet come in the form of a changing snowfall pattern, where there will be heavier and more frequent falls, but with the snow landing on warmer ground.

Thicker snow that disappears more quickly, says Reid, is better than no snow at all. But Glencoe, which is swiftly attainable by the huge Glasgow-based demographic, must be ready to react quickly.

"The marketing has to be top-class so that skiers can react quickly to sudden snow dumps," says Reid. The use of technology in the form of mobile phones and internet alerts is vital.

So the game's not up yet. Could it be that far from being in the worst possible situation, Glencoe Mountain Resort might just end up finding itself once again in pole position?