 Poster: A snowHead
|
The astonishing snow conditions on Scotland's best-known ski mountain - Cairngorm - are attracting big traffic. Earlybirds heading for the hill this morning faced a jam below the snow-gates lasting over 3 hours while a snow-clearing crew battled with a broken-down snowplough on the access road.
This thread on Winterhighland.com
The photo in the RH column of this page (showing the East Lady, which normally carries no skiable snow-cover)...
http://www.winterhighland.info/snowreports/index.php?resort=cg
... suggests unprecedented snow depths in Cairngorm's ski history, or at least for a couple of decades.
Anyone care to comment on the significance of the current conditions for early Jan?
|
|
|
|
|
|
brian
brian
Guest
|
I've been skiing Cairngorm since 1983 and I've never seen as much skiable cover as there is just now. Amazing! 
pics on the Scotland this weekend thread.
|
|
|
|
|
|
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?
|
The snow cover is truly epic, but the less said about Saturday's pantomime the better. 
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
Unfortunately, Cairngorm Mountain is reporting a technical fault with the funicular railway - the hub of the lift system - this morning ...
http://www.cairngormmountain.co.uk
| Quote: |
| The funicular continues to show a technical fault, this fault is with the telemetry i.e. the train cars are not communicating with the main control computer. All day yesterday and most of last night the technical team were working with Switzerland to resolve this issue and we are as frustrated as our public. We continue to work on the fault. |
... but the access road and carparks are clear.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
|
My January Swiss holiday almost seems like insanity.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
|
achilles, Yes, once in a blue moon conditions so I have now booked a quick trip for week after next to Cairngorm.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Funicular back in action. -30C windchill at top station, according to Cairngorm site.
What are you planning to wear, Swiller?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ernst Goldsmith, my usual tweeds, mink underwear and Norwegian jumper I expect.
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
^ dressed like that you'll blend in nicely with the locals 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I see that the 'Cairngorm Traffic Jam' thread on Winterhighland has now grown to 8 pages:
http://www.winterhighland.info/forum/read.php?2,113911,page=8
which makes it more of a jam than a thread - the posts are queued up for miles, with every fuming motorist taking a view on how the mountain should be run. In the days I worked on Cairngorm, Bob Clyde (who got an MBE for his services) used to be on the access road every morning, wheeling the snowploughs into action and generally trouble-shooting the whole ski area. But the winters were reliably good, through the 1960s and 1970s. In any event, it's a remarkably difficult management job running that hill - there are so many uncertainties every day and every winter. Given the number of dud winters through the 1980s and 1990s we should be thankful that there's any skiing on Cairngorm at all.
As for the access road, the 9-mile distance of Aviemore from its ski mountain is where many of the problems lie. In a traditional ski resort, a major dump isn't usually enough to stop people skiing, because they're there already. A proportion of the lifts might take time to open, but people are on the spot and usually skiing pretty quickly.
Who'd really want to run Cairngorm (and its investment-starved lift system) amongst the couch-potato-chattering-classes?
Last edited by Ski the Net with snowHeads  on Wed 13-01-10 5:07; edited 1 time in total
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
But how long can we expect it to last? I need it to stay till mid Feb when I can get away, any chance of that? 
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
I was there in the queue Sat but must say that the conditions made up for the wait. Shame the funicular problem occurred at the same time. I don't think I have ever skiied on better snow. The skiing on Friday with blue skies and no wind was excellent but the fresh snow that night just made it even better. Shame I had to leave at 2:30 that afternoon for a 520 mile drive home 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ernst Goldsmith, the reason people are fuming is because it was not a major dump. It was < 10cm of snow that fell when it was flat calm, it had stopped snowing before the snow gates were actually closed and didn't snow all morning! On what should have been the day of the season, CML were caught with their pants down!
Plus what grates even more than the skiing down time, is the fact CML throw away an amount of cash over the weekend thought to be be equivalent to the cost of servicing the West Wall Chairlift
|
|
|
|
|
|
You know it makes sense.
|
Winterhighland, I can see your point entirely. My informant - Major Dump - misled me. No, I don't think it would have happened in the days of Bob Clyde.
The history of Cairngorm and Aviemore will make a brilliant book, one day. And that jam deserves a chapter.
I can also see your revenue point - it's pretty persuasive. There's a huge company called Merlin Entertainments Group - they run everything from the London Eye (on the land owned by my employers Southbank Centre) to Legoland to Alton Towers. I wonder what they'd make of the situation and the solutions?
http://www.merlinentertainments.biz
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FAQ
