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ANALYSIS: How can Cairngorm Mountain get back on track?


By Gregor White

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The funicular railway is to remain closed for another winter.
The funicular railway is to remain closed for another winter.

The announcement by Highlands and Islands Enterprise that the Cairngorm funicular railway will remain closed this winter will come as a bitter disappointment to most snowsports enthusiasts.

Those who were considering buying their season ski passes for 2021/22 may now vote with their wallets and keep them closed.

Another winter of picking your way up the hill via the Fiacaill Ridge Poma; down and across the Cas and up the M1 Poma may prove a trek too far for experienced skiers and boarders – even for those keen to get back after Covid closed the resort.

It also means that the best areas for teaching novices – the Ptarmigan bowl – remains out of reach for beginners although works to re-profile the lower slopes at the resort have progressed and should keep the snow better this winter all being well and provide a wider plain.

That will be needed as once again the gentle slopes by the Day Lodge will be thronged with ski school pupils given that the funicular is out of operation.

Despite what many may now claim locally, the signs had been good that the work would be carried out on time even if HIE had kept their options open by never declaring what exactly a winter 2021/22 opening meant: November, December, January, February, March or even April.

There was even talk on the hill that all was going well.

The target date is now Autumn 2022 by which time the Cairngorm funicular will have been out of operation for four years.

As ever with HIE and Cairngorm Mountain there are more questions than answers.

Why did it took so long for the work to start repairs after the issues plaguing the funicular had been picked up on in early engineering inspection reports but not enacted upon sooner; would this have made the repairs quicker and easier?

Why has the project ended up running behind schedule so far? Is there really such a demand for the building materials being used for this unique construction programme? We thought it was small scale house extensions and garden projects that were all the rage in post lockdown Britain.

HIE and its contractors Balfour Beatty could not have got a much better summer to make headway. July was the best it has been in living memory in the Cairngorms.

Covid-19 and the weather were given as two of the main factors for this near year-long delay but these were already givens when the revised Cairngorm Funicular timetable was announced

What this latest unwanted development has shown is the futility of the core lift policy.

This can be pinpointed as the moment in time when Cairngorm Mountain started to lose its way, compounded by a series of poorer winters snow-wise.

Cairngorm Mountain's eggs were well and truly placed in this one basket when the funicular was opened in December 2001 and other lifts across the resort were left to wither and to have their misery ended with the axe.

Oh, to have the White Lady T-bar, the West Wall and Ciste Car Park chairlifts in operation rather than consigned to the history books.

Both chairs were mothballed during the non-winter of 2002.

The continuing neglect of the Ciste – one of the very best ski areas in Scotland – shows that mistakes are not been learnt from.

This latest bitterest of blows highlights the need to get new uplift on the hill sooner rather than later.

A chairlift can not come soon enough – two would be better; one in the Cas as proposed but one in the Ciste.

Get the mountain bikers in, make the ski resort more appealing once again to snowsports fans.

As one social media post reminded us it was just about four years ago to the day that the remaining infrastructure for the chairlifts in the ciste were destroyed without any public consultation.

Much better is needed. Three years have been wasted; some would say a lot longer.

There is some good money on the table to improve the resort although never enough – but what would private rivals give for such financial support and the security that is offered by being owned by the public sector?

It was announced last October that the ailing resort was receiving £10.16 million from the Scottish Government and £10.35 million from HIE to revive its fortunes.

More than £16 million of that is committed to getting the funicular back into service.

It is imperative that none of the other committed funds are lost to project drag. The resort has much work to do.

There is a Cairngorm Mountain masterplan but it consists of broad brushstrokes - we now need details and dates.

Some tubing slides and a children's zipwire are not going to solve the long-standing problems nor will the welcome investment in the Ptarmigan top station – served by the funicular – which HIE announced yesterday as an aside.

Small steps have been taken but now real visible progress is required.

A Scottish Centre for the Mountain Environment doesn't exactly get the juices flowing.

Transforming Cairngorm Mountain into an international destination for mountain biking does.

Installing fast and efficient uplift to serve this summer market and our skiers and snowboarders is key.

It will also ensure the resort never finds itself in the same predicament again.

We need signs of new hope.


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