 Poster: A snowHead
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Correct me if im wrong as i dont know much about these things but would planting more trees on the mountain help the resort with the problem of strong winds affecting pistes and blowing snow away aswell as sheltering the snow at times????
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Could see it being a benefit to the skiing if forestry could be established but
Growing conditions aren’t good lack of soil / high winds so there would be no great commercial return as there is in the lower plantations
The other option would be to reestablish the Caledonian forest but I don’t know if it ever existed at that height
I f you could get trees to grow and stop the deer and sheep eating it Cairngorm has park status I’m sure even if it was possible there would be a lot of people unhappy about tree planting over a nice mountain to help those nasty skiers and boarders
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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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I have long been surprised that the Scottish resorts do not build 2 or 3 runs at the top of their mountains with retractable roofs and side-fencing along them. Even a piste of, say, 500m would surely attract hardcore locals and help to maintain or grow their revenues.
The roof and fencing would keep the rain or wind away. The roof could be withdrawn on those rare sunny or snowy days.
Glaciers in the Alps, such as Andermatt, have demonstrated that if you cover up snow with the right materials, it will last a surprisingly long time, even in intense summer heat.
If they can get a man to the moon, then surely it must be possible to pile a bit of natural or manmade snow under a roof and keep it there for a few days or weeks until the next snowfall.
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Whitegold, Cairngorm is a national park so hard enough to get planning permission for a new house let alone what you suggest. Interesting concept though. 
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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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montylad,
Yes it would, and CML are planting lots of trees, but most of the resort is at or above the treeline, and what trees there are are very very slow growing because of the harsh conditions.
Also the nice little Scots pine in the middle of the Daylodge run was fouly murdered last season  when it was decapitated by an errant skier, boarder or piste basher driver>
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Garfield, I believe that the Caledonian Forest covered the lot, top to bottom. The small bits that are left are stunningly beautiful.
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| Whitegold wrote: |
| I have long been surprised that the Scottish resorts do not build 2 or 3 runs at the top of their mountains with retractable roofs and side-fencing along them. |
You must be joking? I supoose you want a 6 lane motorway all the way to Aviemore to go with it?
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brian
brian
Guest
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richmond, no, the treeline that remains today is probably a bit artificially low due to grazing and you can see bits of old tree root preserved in the peat at about 700m or so on the way round to Coire an t-Sneachda, but I don't think the Caledonian forest extended above that.
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u wouldnt need trees all the way to the top as the bottom runs are the runs that take the beating from the conditions.
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brian, I though that immediately post ice age the forest extended over the whole of Scotland, bottom to top. Maybe I took 'covered' too literally.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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brian, I though that immediately post ice age the forest extended over the whole of Scotland, bottom to top. Maybe I took 'covered' too literally.
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brian
brian
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richmond, I'm not sure how (or if) it's moved since the ice age but I'm pretty sure it would naturally be just over 2000' left to its own devices. A quick bit of googling found this from an old Edinburgh Uni forestry phd student.
| Dr Trees wrote: |
1.2.1 The natural treeline.
One possible indicator of planting limits were the few remnants of natural
treeline in Scotland which appeared to be unaffected by man. The altitude of
the treeline in Scotland was the source of speculation as early as 1912
(Schrijter), and has remained the subject of occasional research since (Watt and
Jones 1946, Poore and MacVean 1957, Spence 1960, Pears 1967, 1968, Schofield
1980). Pears estimated its height in central Scotland as 610 m on windward
slopes and 685 m on sheltered ones. Poore and MacVean quote values as low
as 91 to 135 m in some west coast areas.
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brian, Dr Trees? Wherever the treeline was, the remnants are strikingly beautiful, esopecially at this time of year or a bit earlier.
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You know it makes sense.
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According to Winterhighland some of the trees in Corrie Cas are 70 years old and only 3 feet high. Given that the present tree line with or without deer is only about 1800 feet in the UK, they probably aren't going to thrive.
The Lecht have planted trees at their centre but they are growing very slowly. Perhaps in 50 years time we may have our first UK real snow tree lined run !
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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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There have been periods post the Loch Lomond Stadial where the tree line was higher than the current 1800ft in the Cairngorms, but at those times the climate was less harsh than at present - warmth isn't the whole story as high winds play a significant part as well as the short growing season. You will find evidence in peat hags of ancient large scots pines above 2000ft on CairnGorm.
Rowan trees planted around the base station seem to have grown the fastest but they may be getting a certain degree of shelter from buildings and the funicular. The pine trees at the top of the Mountain Garden were planted around the bottom station of the Carpark chairlift in the late 60s and in 40years the tallest have only reached around 5ft even with shelter!
Scots pines do grow higher on the mountain but they grow very slowly (as mentioned above there are some 70+years old and less than 3 feet tall) and tend to bush out into sturdy low level bushes rather than tall trees due to the wind. In fact willow trees grow most of the way up the mountain, you probably wont see them though, they don't go more than a few inches away from the ground!!
Slightly off topic, but the granite tors that remain only on the higher parts of CairnGorm are evidence that the high plateau was never under ice, as these tors are formed by tropical weathering.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Nevis Range is a much more open mountain (not to mention the back-bowl). I suppose you could knit a hat for the whole mountain 
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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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| Whitegold wrote: |
I have long been surprised that the Scottish resorts do not build 2 or 3 runs at the top of their mountains with retractable roofs and side-fencing along them. Even a piste of, say, 500m would surely attract hardcore locals and help to maintain or grow their revenues.
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Not such a crazy idea - click me
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Not a crazy idea at a low level site with a sizeable urban population nearby. Yes a crazy idea at the top of one of the countries highest mountains, in the middle of a national park where incidently the wind can exceed 170mph!
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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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Winterhighland,
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| middle of a national park |
The most important reason why any sane person would immediately say NO! FFS it's one of the few wild places left in the UK why the hell would you want anyone to build on it?
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Why on earth would you want to build a snowdome at the top of a mountain??
It would not be a snowdome at all. It would be a barrier against the natural elements that plague Scottish skiing today. The retractable roof and side-fencing could be lowered on good days, raised on bad days.
Regarding the wind -- this is a lame excuse. If they can build a cable car at 13k ft up to the Matterhorn, and if they can build an observatory on ultra-harsh Mount Washington, then they can build a bit of fencing and a roof on a hill in Scotland.
Regarding the aesthetics -- designing a good-looking, environment-friendly structure is not difficult these days. Besides, it couldn't be much worse than the battered old lifts that already scar most of the hillsides in Scotland.
Regarding the trees -- trees grow up to and above 10k ft in many parts of the world. Surely they could find one somewhere that would survive on Scottish soil at the top of a tiny hill. If not, they should import tree-friendly soil and use that. If they can grow lush green golf courses in the Vegas desert, then they can grow trees on a Scottish mountain.
The reality is that Scottish skiing sucks due to under-investment. Nobody wants to spend any money. It sadly has the British disease.
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