 Poster: A snowHead
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Head of Ski Scotland and owner of Glencoe, Andy Meldrum, attacks HIEs squandering of funds on the ‘unfixable’ CairnGorm funicular in this weeks Strathy:
https://www.strathspey-herald.co.uk/news/warning-over-cairngorm-funicular-costs-345201/
With £26.5m spent on repairs to get 7 months of service followed by 8 months of closure so far, enough really has to be enough with this. Even if millions more was spent to replace the problematic crumbling concrete beams and the upside down scarf joints between them with steel as originally specified it would address none of the funiculars operational shortcomings.
To his credit Ivan McKee when he was the minister responsible did question the situation he inherited from Fergus Ewing, who authorised the repairs and who has long been an apologist for CML and the failed funicular. However with £17m spent at that point McKee was left with little choice by HIEs actions to conclude continuing the repairs was the least worst option. HIE has persistently and falsely presented the case as fix the funicular or close CairnGorm permanently, as such that option was considered by the Scottish Ministers.
This mess makes it almost inconceivable that public investment will be available to the other snowsports areas going forward, while at the same time making private capital investment impossible.
Dave Macleod is HIE’s head of property and infrastructure said:
"It is a really challenging project.”
Fixing the un-fixable usually is.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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A government spokesperson said: "The current programme of works has proven more technically challenging and complex than had been expected. The project team also had to contend with severe weather conditions and below-freezing temperatures on the mountain."
Severe weather and below freezing temperatures, 1,000m above sea level in Scotland, in winter? Surely not!
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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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The article incorrectly says "Opened in 2001 at a cost of £19.5m...". In fact the cost of building the funicular in the first place ended up as £26.75 million.
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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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I wonder if anyone under 40 years of age considers Aviemore as a "snowsports" destination any more?
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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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| GreenDay wrote: |
| I wonder if anyone under 40 years of age considers Aviemore as a "snowsports" destination any more? |
As someone relatively local (Aberdeenshire), I'd love to head over and ski there, but with no reliable uplift it's not worth the 2 hour drive for me. My dad skied Aviemore in the 70s, and one day I'd like to - I'd say they need to rip out the funicular and replace with a decent lift - but even then, experience at the other centres shows that they have to close the chairs with high winds and then it's a drag, in every sense of the word. Also not a cheap day out with lift passes being what they are. I was at Glenshee in January and they couldn't/wouldn't even open the higher drag lifts because of the wind, so I'm kind of over Scottish skiing at the moment. Next winter will be a boys trip with my snowboarding teenage son to Switzerland - I'd rather save the £100-odd quid it costs me for a day skiing up here and put it towards a decent Euro trip.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I have great memories of Cairngorm skiing both pre and post funicular.
Never was a grand funicular fan: crowded, long waits, queues.
Not a fan of drag lifts, either: but a reliable series of drags to get you in stages from bottom to top, and then repeating all or part thereof, is far far preferable to a little train which doesn't work.
Such potential at Cairngorm; now seems ruined and irrecoverable.
Coe, meanwhile, is doing its best to benefit and upgrade.
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Even in the 1970s and 1980s when snow was much more reliable and there were far more lifts open at Cairngorm, the skiing was far from reliable with storm closures, huge queues and not infrequent boiler plate ice.
When it all came together however it could be a lot more fun than the Alps, buts it’s always been a frustrating ski hill.
The funicular marked a turning point for me personally and after that I’ve hardly skied there preferring Glenshee and Glencoe.
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| Peter S wrote: |
| The funicular marked a turning point for me personally and after that I’ve hardly skied there preferring Glenshee and Glencoe. |
The same for me and I suspect quite a few others.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Clear all the concrete and steel, return the corries with their delicate Arctic-Alpine flora to nature.
Climate change is making skiing at already marginal locations almost untenable. Sadly.
Whoever in Scotland is persisting with wasting public money on this bird brain vanity project, should stop. The money wasted to date becomes a sunk cost, it’s madness to keep pouring more funds in.
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| Snow&skifan wrote: |
Clear all the concrete and steel, return the corries with their delicate Arctic-Alpine flora to nature.
Climate change is making skiing at already marginal locations almost untenable. |
Ironically CairnGorm is the only one that has scope for upwards expansion and has terrain suitable for all ability levels near the top.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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This has been going round in circles (on here) for 2 decades.
Overpriced ferries, overpriced "parliament" building, overpriced snowtrain that closes when it snows...
Scotland just doesn't have the management, govt, or engineering skills for big projects anymore.
Time to shutdown Cairngorm. Dismantle the lifts. Gift the mountain back to Mother Nature.
Let the other ski stations, like Glencoe, pickup the winter business. They deserve it.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| haggishunter wrote: |
| Snow&skifan wrote: |
Clear all the concrete and steel, return the corries with their delicate Arctic-Alpine flora to nature.
Climate change is making skiing at already marginal locations almost untenable. |
Ironically CairnGorm is the only one that has scope for upwards expansion and has terrain suitable for all ability levels near the top. |
Aspect, altitude, topography, the colder NE Grampians …. it ticked many boxes.
Which body/bodies were the driving force behind the funicular?
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@Whitegold, HS2. An English failure on a much grander scale than Cairngorm. It’s not just a Scottish problem.
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You know it makes sense.
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| what...snow wrote: |
| @Whitegold, HS2. An English failure on a much grander scale than Cairngorm. It’s not just a Scottish problem. |
Indeed 
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| Alastair Pink wrote: |
| Peter S wrote: |
| The funicular marked a turning point for me personally and after that I’ve hardly skied there preferring Glenshee and Glencoe. |
The same for me and I suspect quite a few others. |
Me too.
Been to Aviemore a lot over last couple of decades, but for MTB only.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Snow&skifan wrote: |
..snip..
Which body/bodies were the driving force behind the funicular? |
HIE - Highlands and Islands Enterprise, the quango that owns the Northern side of Cairn Gorm, the infrastructure and since Nov 2018 the operating company (having previously owned CML from May 2008 to June 2014).
When the Funicular project was being conceived, the chairman of HIE was Sir Fraser Morrison, Chairman and CEO of the funicular construction company, Morrison Construction. I’m sure there is another word apart from CairnGorm that begins with C.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Corruption between a quango and the private sector? Surely not?
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