 Poster: A snowHead
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I’ve been having a look at Glenshee, particularly at whether a trail could be cut from just above the Meall Odhar Cafe traversing around above the carpark to the Sunnyside Chair. In theory the distance and elevation change should just about give a skiable glide angle. However the topography seems to beat this, unless you smashed your way round with even less subtlety than the early 80s upgrade of the Cairnwell Pass!
Certainly a trail could be made to the carpark but not reaching an existent lift - the ill fated Grinian Poma was closer to the attainable area!
What use would this be, you might well ask? It would allow exit from middle valley without going back down it to one of the Cluny Pomas or Tom Dearg. This would open up several possibilities to rethinking the middle valley entirely, but it doesn’t work with the current Sunnysude setup either. If you change Sunnyside to make it work, then it’s even more disconnected from the Cairnwell lifts and base facilities.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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With Glencoe aiming for the sledge park to reach the early May bank holiday weekend, it looks like the sledge park magic carpet will debut in 1st place for Scottish surface lifts this season!! 
1. [GC] Access Chairlift open for 126 days
2. [CG] SnowBadger Carpet 1 open for 99 days
3. [NR] Gondola open for 88 days
4. [GC] Sledge Park Carpet open for 87 days
5. [LT] Wren Carpet open for 61 days
6. [GS] Plastic Slope Poma open for 52 days
7. [CG] SnowBadger Carpet 2 open for 50 days
8. [GS] Dink Dink Poma open for 49 days
9. [GS] Rope Tow open for 49 days
10. [LT] Robin Carpet open for 48 days
11. [CG] CairnGorm Funicular open for 37 days
12. [GC] Rannoch Chairlift open for 26 days
13. [GC] Plateau Poma open for 23 days
14. [GC] Cliffhanger Chairlift open for 23 days
15. [GC] Coire Pollach Tow open for 15 days
16. [GS] Baddoch Chairlift open for 14 days
17. [CG] Ptarmigan Ski Tow open for 13 days
18. [CG] Polar Express Poma open for 13 days
19. [GS] Cairnwell Chairlift open for 12 days
20. [GS] Claybokie Poma open for 9 days
21. [GS] Cairnwell Ski Tow open for 7 days
22. [LT] Eagle Poma open for 6 days
23. [CG] CarPark Ski Tow open for 6 days
24. [LT] Osprey Poma open for 5 days
25. [GS] Butchart's Access Poma open for 5 days
26. [LT] Kestrel Poma open for 3 days
27. [LT] Grouse Poma open for 3 days
28. [CG] Coire Cas T-Bar open for 3 days
29. [CG] Coire na Ciste Tow open for 3 days
30. [CG] Sheiling Handle Tow open for 2 days
31. [CG] M1 Poma open for 2 days
32. [GC] Wall Ski Tow open for 2 days
33. [LT] Snowy Owl Chairlift open for 1 days
There is an awful long list of 0 days, including both top tows at Glencoe (Storm Eowyn contributing to that by blasting the snow off the upper mountain onto the Plateau in about the only notable storm snow event of the season). Inexcusably, the 0 day list includes EVERY lift above the Gondola at Nevis Range, despite there being times when there was more snow on Aonach Mor than the rest put together.
It was a bad season, but that there was no season at Nevis was a choice, not a genuine reflection of the snow situation. Weeks of potential lift served riding were wasted by CairnGorm as well.
Some may well have come across the news about the Dunoon project, that Nevis Range has partnered with. One might suspect that the Brigadoon Gondola would probably have more chance of actually coming to fruition, given the Nevis Range Development Company are supposed to be building and operating said gondola, however given the new course length stipulations for the UCI World Cup and the loss of this event from Scotland, then Kilbride Hill does look like a potential World Cup venue in it's current format, and that could unlock significant funding.
However, it does seem that this partnership is an opportunistic one for Nevis as it is also a route to trash any prospect of Glencoe upgrading the Access Chairlift. However, when you look at this season's operating stats of the Access Chair vs Nevis Gondola, if Nevis Range are backing Dunoon for underhand reasons, they might actually be doing Glencoe a favour! 
IMHO, if the Dunoon Project gets financial backing, given that a Glenmore Gondola has potential to address many of the fundamental problems that exist today on Cairn Gorm, then Glencoe should not proceed with their own gondola concept. Differentiate, and do so with an uplift system that costs significantly less to operate.
It is also worth noting that if you remove the non surface lifts that operate for sightseeing daily regardless of snow year round, that is the Funicular, Nevis Gondola and the Access Chair, and also remove the beginner tows / carpets supported by snow factory all weather snow making, then the lift that operates only for snowsports that comes out on top is the relatively new (to Glencoe) Rannoch Chairlift on the Plateau. This has been a game changer because of capacity to get people on the hill when there is snow, it probably is the reason why this season is not even close to the worst for skier days at Glencoe.
When all the rhetoric from HIE has been don't invest in snowsports, focus snowsports at the top of the ski areas, Glencoe has saved the past two seasons commercially by doing the exact opposite - investing explicitly in snowsports and increasing the carrying capacity of lower level terrain less hampered by severe mountain weather. That gives some food for thought on options for the future of Scottish snowsports.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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^ interesting post Alan
First season I can ever remember where top of Glencoe hasnt operated. We simply didn't get the big Atlantic storms required to fill the main basin.
As for Dunoon. Interesting idea. However I get the feeling it's very much at the "appealing for funding" stage rather than actual development plan
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Wow. That is a really sad looking list, then add on the 25+ lifts at zero days 
Excluding factory snow, Glencoe had approx 4 weeks of skiing, Cairngorm 2 weeks, Glenshee 1.5 weeks and the Lecht less than a week. Nevis didn't bother to try.
Any idea of skier day numbers yet? The days that were open in the east were very busy, but surely not enough income to cover just the basic overheads - insurance, electric/diesel and skeleton staffing, never mind servicing any debts...
Next season needs to be a belter
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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FAQ
We've had some great times at Glencoe, Cairngorm and Nevis Range, sometimes into June, in other years.