We are defying logic. In a snow-free park in the middle of Glasgow I’m attempting to ski uphill on grass. I know it’s possible because my coach, Brian Adams, zipped proficiently up the incline just seconds before.

Wearing bizarre skis on wheels, known as rollerskis, and clutching a pole in each hand, I concentrate hard. “Right foot out, poles down and back, glide, left foot out,” I repeat the logical sequence in my head.

But as soon as I try the “skating” moves for real everything becomes jumbled. My right foot zooms off, the poles strike the ground too late and any hope of gliding on to my left foot is lost when I stumble like an inebriated partygoer.

I stop to gather my thoughts while the ratcheted back wheel holds me still. I push off again. “Great, well done, you didn’t fall over,’ says Adams, a wiry and fit 49-year-old, as I finally join him at the top. “Let’s go again.”

Speeding downhill is easier — until I try to stop. The snowplough of downhill skiing is only partially effective on rollerskis. Instead, I must hope for a section of flat terrain at the bottom of the hill where my speed will naturally decrease. Surprisingly, this does happen, though not before I’ve let out a squeal of panic.

I’ve been skiing for only an hour, but I am seriously exhausted. Rollerskiing is highly aerobic and uses just about every muscle in the body. “It does get pretty tiring,” agrees Adams, a veteran cross-country skier and a founder member of the Western Track Ski Club. “But the more co-ordinated you become the easier it is on the muscles. Transferring to Nordic skiing on snow feels easy after this.”

Rollerskiing was developed in Scandinavia as a summer training tool for the sister sport of Nordic, or cross-country, skiing. It is now a competitive activity in its own right and has a growing fan base in Scotland, especially at two beginner-friendly clubs, Huntly Nordic Ski Club and Cairngorm Biathlon and Nordic Club.

The biggest area of growth is junior membership. At Britain’s only purpose-built rollerskiing facility, Huntly Nordic and Outdoor Centre, there has been a primary school initiative to get pupils along to rollerskiing sessions on the club’s tarmac track. Children now make up more than half the club’s membership. They practise on the tarmac and switch to Nordic skis when it snows.

I’m told that expert rollerskiers compete for hours on cross- country courses at an average of 15mph. I estimate I’ve averaged 3mph during a two-hour session. I ache from shoulders to calves, but for some unfathomable reason I know I’ll be back for more.

Cairngorm Biathlon and Nordic Ski Club, www.cbnsc.co.uk; Huntly Nordic Ski Club, www.huntly.net; Huntly Nordic and Outdoor Centre, www.huntly.net/hnoc/; Western Track Ski Club, www.westerntrackskiclub.org.uk.

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