Patroller’s Blog “Snow Joke”
Back Home after pulling out from the hill at 11.00am, The ploughs were struggling even to keep a single track on the down road. The wind was not really the problem but the volume of snow falling out of the sky, i knew we should not have tried to wire up the cannon this week.
Anyway the rothiemurchus official weather station is reporting 75cm in my back garden now, oil tank is buried, soon to be followed by the trampoline and it is still thumping down. After this mornings frolics i need spotlights on my roof bars as going up the glen the snow was above my headlights, if anyone from Volvo reads this i could do with an upgrade or raising kit after getting bellied in the down road.
Up the hill there is between 1.5 to 2 metres of fresh powder on the lower slopes and zig zags and probably more further up, the snow is level with the top of the tunnel and track buried in the usual places. I would also imagine there will be avalanche risk in places we have not seen before.
If the forecasted winds materialise who knows when we will get open… July Galcier skiing anyone?
Cheers
Colin
February 25th, 2010 at 2:56 pm
Man I can’t believe the amount of snow that has fallen in the last 24 hours. At this rate the ski season is going to go on for a long time. Saw a video report from the mountain this morning and the slopes looked amazing. The video was a great advert for the mountain.
http://news.stv.tv/scotland/highlands-islands/159415-cairngorm-reports-best-ski-season-in-20-years/
Good luck to you all up there trying to clear the roada dn track tomorrow. This season could go down in history as one of the best ever. Would you agree?
February 25th, 2010 at 3:01 pm
Muchos gracias to the big man upstairs! the amount of snow this season is unreal. Hope you guys have some luck in clearing the road/funicular track but I guess there’s no point until it stops chucking it down.
I pray that it’s open by Tuesday as I’m heading up for 4 days and after seeing all the photos from the last couple of weeks, I’m as excited as a five year old on Xmas day who’s been at the red bull!
February 25th, 2010 at 3:51 pm
I was just thinking back to 1985 when due to the amount of snow that I was still being able to ski at the Lecht well in to June.
SO…….Considering the severe ground frost and huge dumps of snow so you’ve had early ….. if it lasts ….. I was wondering if there was any chance that the skiing season would or could be extended past the normal begining of May?
Be great to top the tan and get some real shorts & shades skiing without having to go abroad.
February 25th, 2010 at 3:56 pm
“rothiemurchus official weather station”
Where’s that? Is it a new one? I can’t find a link.
February 25th, 2010 at 5:40 pm
Col,
There’s tons of down here near Glesga too but it’s not quite what I had in mind for the weekend. Might need to nip down to the HSS hire shop and see if they can fix me up with a Caterpillar for the saturday mornin run up the A9.
That’s mental that the snow is up to the top of the tunnel, what do you reckon the deepest snow is at now, I’m sure you mentioned 10m somewhere before the dump last night so in old money I figured that must be nearing 40ft in places?? You should definately stick that on the main page my pals down south think I’m making it up.
Snow joke indeed, maybe a silly question but do you reckon you’ll have found the top (or the car park!!) by saturday morning??
Cheers
Simon
February 25th, 2010 at 5:46 pm
Four to six feet of new snow on the lower slopes?!
Just w o w…
I’m off to work out how I can get back up there sooner rather than later. Glad I equipped my old 4wd Audi with winter tyres; they need to see some action…:-)
Good luck with the dig!
February 25th, 2010 at 5:52 pm
At the rate things are going, this season is going to stretch right through to next season
February 25th, 2010 at 8:19 pm
wow! [ that says it all!
]
February 25th, 2010 at 9:25 pm
Simply phenomenal amount of powder snow on the Gorm today.
Can’t remember as much snow fall in one night- possibly when I was a kid but I had short legs then!
February 25th, 2010 at 9:38 pm
Patrol 4 get to bed, either digging or pushing the volvo again tomorrow.
Later
Col
February 25th, 2010 at 9:52 pm
I had initially planned a boarding holiday abroad this year but scrap that. I’ve been up the hill loads this year already. 5am start to pick up bods and drive the 3 hrs to the mountain and everyday is better and more worthwhile than the last.
In conclusion, i’ll be missing out on the garlic bread and red wine for some black pudding and ‘T’. It’s Scotland for me this year. Great work up there guys, i take my hat off to you all for the sterling work going on.
Cheers
Graham
February 25th, 2010 at 11:31 pm
Man I love being a season ticket holder. So Colin, I think it was asked earlier, weekend sking through the summer? What does the VMP actually say, is this allowed?
February 26th, 2010 at 7:29 am
Idea : could you guys contact the trade press (snowboard/ski mags) to see if you could invite them and some pro boarders and skiers to the mountain? You might get the kind of footage that would be useful to you for some time to come. Some big mountain high speed lines in the deep stuff, or a few massive tricks off those kickers? Could Lesley M round up some pals for a wee bit of useful PR? Nice to make the most of it with a decent cameraman etc…?
February 26th, 2010 at 8:50 am
Are you going to be selling snorkels in the shop?
February 26th, 2010 at 10:55 am
Hi Colin
I’ve been keeping a daily tally of snowfall down here in the village; before the thaw I’d recorded a level fall of 43 inches. Since then one fall of 6 inches and over the last 48 hours 19 inches. Making a total of 68 inches (although for obvious reasons it was never that deep at one time). Do you have an equivalent figure for up the hill? Must be phenomenal! I know it’s probably almost impossible to measure when it’s blowing around, and anyway you guys may have had a few other things to do up there!
February 26th, 2010 at 11:16 am
Col suggestion for improvment of website - (tekies can work on them while snowed off)
Front page -
is it possible to add the number of comments on last entry of blog - if see there is no new additions then I dont need to go into it - reduces laod on server during busy conditions.
a mobile fiendly aspect of site, for those accessing for an update on conditions - tried WH on BB for first time and this gives you good basic information and conditions.
February 26th, 2010 at 11:21 am
The recent snowfall has persuaded me to head over to Aviemore next week for few days skiing. The mountain will be amazing once the winds die down. What is the weather forcast like for next week?
Does anyone know the cost of hiring skis, boots and poles for a day?
February 26th, 2010 at 2:59 pm
Keith,
£20 per day including boots.In my opionion the SOS hire shop on the ski rd or at the Woodshed have the best gear
February 26th, 2010 at 3:21 pm
I.ve been a regular on Cairngorm for 40 years, I cant remember it ever being as consistantly fantastic as this. Has there ever been this much snow before, with as little wind? I know tomorrow is a non-starter, but there dosnt seem to be any where near as many stormbound days. It just keeps getting better
February 26th, 2010 at 8:28 pm
Colin with all this snow laying about and the snow-pack conditions could your guys set up a well sign posted tranceiver search area hopefully to make people aware of the dangers on the hill this year should you venture off in search of freshies. I know you will be busy digging for a few days to come but if you get the chance can you think about it.
Thanks and good luck with the digging.
February 26th, 2010 at 10:25 pm
Speaking of transceivers, when I was up at New Year, I was wearing mine and never picked up another signal when I several times speculatively switched it to receive, with many people about. How many people use them up there?
February 27th, 2010 at 10:16 am
Looking at the Funicular track on the White Lady webcam my thoughts were OMG (actually, I couldn’t print exactly what I thought on a family friendly site) but it looks like in terms of depth to be dug rather scary!
Is this sequel the ‘Big Dig III: The Ice Age’?
February 27th, 2010 at 11:49 am
Amazing amounts of snow. I was up two weeks ago and had the best skiing ever. Now trying to work out how I can afford to come up at Easter - local hotels seem to want £500 plus for 4 nights and i’m not sure its really camping weather in April (especially with kids!).
Keep up the good work.
February 27th, 2010 at 5:54 pm
You lot deserve a medal. I wish I could see it. Can’t imagine how deep it must be but expect there will be more left than the normal patches when we get there in June.
February 27th, 2010 at 6:46 pm
what’s the craic for tomorrow Colin? is it worth an early start or can i have at the new 20 yr old (benriach that is!) tonight?!! Do you reckon the ciste will be no go for a few days? any slides so far? Drove up to top of tullochgrue today (fun!), and had to look really hard to spot the train tracks - this was when it was clear like! Fair dues to all, I dug out 2 cars and a few pathways on thursday and wheezed on the couch for an hour afterwards, cant imagine the slog at the tunnel mouth, it’ll fair toughen ye up!
February 27th, 2010 at 7:18 pm
@Michelle: Beg/borrow/steal a motorhome and kip on the car park for a few nights, or book into one of the camp sites on the ski road. Quite a few companies in Scotland hiring out vans. Try http://www.perthmotorhomehire.co.uk/ or http://www.edinburghmotorhomehire.co.uk/ or http://www.highlandcampervans.com/ - might cost you more than the hotel though! April can actually be pretty pleasant for camping too…
@CML: Keep up the good work chaps and keep posting the vids - gives those that just don’t (or wont) understand the scale of the job some idea… Its gonna be epic when its all open again and I cannae wait.
@God: We want more winters like 09/10 please. No more of this warm rain and soggy muck thats been the winters of late. Thanks (shame I’m an athiest!).
Nigel
February 28th, 2010 at 7:09 am
Barry, did not have time to check the blog last night, out for dinner with some of the team. I dont think it will be that good today. blowing at the top and bad vis at the moment M1 borderline and only the two carparks cleared so far. There are a lot of cornices on the East Wall Ridge, probablu a no go zone there.
Cheers
colin
February 28th, 2010 at 8:22 am
Can the ski season on the mountain go on endlessly? There are prebooked Saga holidays tours for oldies, what will happen??? I am a teacher and really hope to come up again in Easter hols, had fantastic conditions 2 weeks ago….
February 28th, 2010 at 11:41 am
well done for getting open today Colin. Hope you get the train track uncovered soon. I’m on a brief sojourn doon sooth at the mo but back wednesday. Looking forward to making some fresh tracks next week so leave some for me!
February 28th, 2010 at 6:45 pm
Nice one for gettting the hill open today….I had a cracking day…20 pound tickets made me happy. The snow is amazing, the snow cover unbelievable and there is a whole lot of fun to be had up there for the forseable future!
Big respect to all the staff….a tremendous job being done….back to work tomorrow, have fun in that huge playground and leave me some freshies on the East Lady please!
March 1st, 2010 at 3:01 am
Hi Colin,
Amazing work getting the place open today. Any chance of the avalanche blasting permit being reapplied for?
March 1st, 2010 at 6:51 am
Hi James
I have a ticket for blasting, it is that we dont have a licence or safe to keep stuff on site. We have a few thoughts and ideas and i am making a few enquiries today.
Cheers
colin
March 1st, 2010 at 9:18 am
Hi
If you get to do some blasting, be sure to get some video’s off it!!
I was thinking of heading up from Stirling tomorrow, but am wondering what will be open. Whats the chance of the WWP or WhiteLady/Train running tomorrow - and whats the likelyhood of the top bowls being open? I realise that the avalanche danger needs to be assessed etc, maybe todays sunshine will consolodate things a little… I guess the aonach/ciste bowls & ptarmigan ridge/ciste cp return are extremely unlikely at the moment?
If its just the Cas tows opening, will the tickets still be £20 tuesday?
Wanting maximum gain for my day of work + costs etc
Happy blasting!
Nigel
March 1st, 2010 at 10:35 am
Hi Colin you guys are doing a great job. Had planned to come over this week but may wait a week now till everything is open again. What is the forcast like for the next 10days ? I am sure the slopes will still be in amazing condition in even a week or 2?
March 1st, 2010 at 11:25 am
Hi Nigel
Lot of quetions there, we are planning doing some significant explosives control from tomorrow and the next day, starting with the slopes above the traverse. We are starting early but wont open the Cas till that area is safe. Not sure about the M1, maybe do a few bangs on the East Wall of the Lady to be safe as well. i think it will be a day or two before the West Wall Poma is open. the train is still a few days away yet. Hope this does not upset your plans too much but there is more snow now than i have ever seen on this hill and in unusual places too, even the old timers are gradually admiting this is as much as we have had in memory - i,m sure some people will dismiss this but it is only my opinion.
Again sorry for any delays but i have to make sure we do as much as possible to make the area as safe as possible.
If the weather is good we will get some good photos i,m sure.
Keith forecast is remaining cold for the next 10 days and there is bound to be plenty snow for your visit, probably more.
Cheers
Colin
March 1st, 2010 at 12:08 pm
does your job getting any better???
Train to play with, 4troke bikes, KBs, ski, touring, snow plough, snow blowers, your own mechano set (ciste uplift) and now blowing things up.
It just keeps getting better and better - and still the snow making to play (sorry trial) with.
March 1st, 2010 at 12:11 pm
I’ve only been skiing on Cairngorm since 1959, and don’t remember anything like this, although before that we had some huge huge dumps in the Strath and surrounding area e.g. Dava way - probably more than this - I seem to remember a train being buried. But it may be of interest - and scotch a few myths - easter 1959 there was significantly less snow than easter 2009.
March 1st, 2010 at 5:30 pm
Will you be closing the rest of the mountain while you’re doing your explosive controls? Can’t wait to get up, but will probably leave it till later in the week if the rest of the hill opens up, although it would be worth seeing! Hope you manage to get photos or footage on Youtube! Have fun!
March 1st, 2010 at 9:03 pm
Hi sus
no the lower slopes, ridge and day lodge will be on first thing, then the cas a bit later.Cheers
Colin
March 1st, 2010 at 9:52 pm
Hi Colin.
Took some pics this afternoon (Monday) of your hard working “chain gang” chipping out several feet of snow from above the funicular track, just above the mid-station. I’m having temporary problems posting the best of these pics (as promised) but I’ll do so imminently. The comment was made that the track was over 15ft above the ground in this area but to a casual observer, it looked as if it was at ground level.
And the ‘phone box near the Day Lodge is now all but buried. It really has to be seen to be believed! For “Old Timer’s” benefit, this is my 49th year skiing in the area & the nearest I can recall like this was in 1978 (I have pics of the telephone box to support my fading memory).
Hope to have the pics with you shortly & thanks to you & your long-suffering team for doing so much to make the skiing & boarding so indescribably fantastic.
Cheers
Ron
March 2nd, 2010 at 2:26 pm
Mystery piste photograph, where was it? 25th season on the Gorm and it’s got me stumped!
March 2nd, 2010 at 9:01 pm
Look at the youtube footage, the answer may be there !
March 2nd, 2010 at 9:35 pm
Hi Colin,
Fantastic time on the mountain today, snow and weather wonderful.
Really take my hat off to you all with the blasting, car park clearing and digging of the track etc. Digging sure looks back breaking work with lots of blistered hands no doubt.
We will be seeing level crossings barriers at the tracks if the snow comes again…!
Thanks to all at CGM for providing the means for me to enjoy epic skiing this season.
Cheers,
Lorraine
March 3rd, 2010 at 11:51 am
I thought it was the Ptarmigan Ridge, but it could have also been the Cornation Wall? But it could be anywhere!
I’m a bit confused, can you ski down the Ciste Gully now?
March 3rd, 2010 at 12:51 pm
Yes
All our runs are open again.
cheers
colin
March 3rd, 2010 at 4:03 pm
hmm stuck in the office looking out at a sunny but snowless Inverness, broke my heart driving away from Aviemore this morning!
Any footage of the blasting Colin? Missed the news report. I hope you lit the bang-bang from a cigar, proper-style!
Considering the size of the storm and resulting instability, ye done good getting things back up and going pretty quickly. Bet HR are creating a new position title up there - Shoveller! You should locate a bucket somewhere that folk can throw in some beer money for the digging crew for an end of season bash (hopefully in June or July sometime!).
Cant wait to get back up and over into the ciste again
March 3rd, 2010 at 6:13 pm
Thanks Barry
We set off another two charges (12lbs) each and on the surface at the steepest section of the Coronation Wall, tunnel diggers got a bit of a fright but hee haw else happened, we are having a wee bash after work tomorrow night and coincidentaly i happen to be off on friday, feel some dancing on cas bar tables coming on.
Big thanks to Adrian from GF Job and Oliver from BAM Ritchies for their help and expertise in the Blasting, now we have Oliver on call for the next dump.
Cheers
Colin
March 3rd, 2010 at 10:38 pm
Col, still got the burn marks on fingers from the last time you set of explosives, okay so it was the 5th November.
Link to bbc story http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/highlands_and_islands/8544972.stm
March 4th, 2010 at 8:06 pm
Fantastic day at Cairngorm today. East Laoigh Mor was amazing. Thanks very much for the shuttle buses, without them I’d never have skied it.
March 5th, 2010 at 5:49 pm
Col,
A bit late in the day to suggest an alternative revenue stream for tomorrow’s worl record attempt - maybe someobody has
Cairngorm Willie Warmers -
March 6th, 2010 at 2:26 pm
Hi colin just got back from the kilted ski event and it was great fun, how about next year an event similar but a skicross style race fastest down wins a free meal or something see if we can get the biggest ski race ever.
March 6th, 2010 at 3:35 pm
why wait till next year, might build a big ski cross this year and do it, dont know about kilts though, might need some protection in the sensitive areas.
Cheers
colin
March 7th, 2010 at 9:02 pm
Col,
Braw day on the hill, spent all day in the Ciste and down in Laogh Mor. Wasn’t quite sure of the route but one of the piste bashers (Tom??) suddenly appeared high over the east wall so I just followed the line he made down back to the ciste car park. Shuttle service was brilliant, whizzed us back to the car park in no time, queue was huge for the railway so went up the daylodge poma (no queue at all), over yonder, and back up the ww poma & ptarmigan t-bar to the top. Was so good that’s all I did all day, and to top it all met the legendary H1lly in the ww poma queue. Brilliant day, thanks a lot. Back up next weekend with the nippers for an altogether different day in the sledge park……
ps I’ll show my ignorance here but when was the last time you pisted out Laogh Mor? - and what is the possibilities of opening up bits of the t’sneachda as some folk have mentioned?
thanks again.
Simon
March 7th, 2010 at 11:18 pm
Colin,
Last week I bought a five day all area pass. The first three days were great however all the areas were closed on Thursday 25th due to the snow so I was unable to use it that day. Also due to the weather problems I had to change my travel and accomodation arrangements and was unable to use the pass on the Friday either. On the voucher it does say that they are non-refundable but I wondered if there is any way they could be exchanged etc so that I can get the full value out of it. The weather was pretty exceptional that week and as I say all the centres were closed on the Thursday and my travel arrangements had to be shelved due to closed roads etc which caused problems for the Friday. Your help/advice would be appreciated.
Thanks
Steven
March 8th, 2010 at 8:35 am
Simon
Glad you enjoyed your day so much, i cant remember Laogh being pisted back to the car park, i remember 1 and 2 gullies being pisted though. As for sneachda, will have to take advice - dont want to get in to trouble.
Steven, not sure on the refund situation, will ask Jenny.
Cheers
Colin
March 8th, 2010 at 11:03 am
Hi to all the team,
Having seen all the great conditions that were left following the January storms, 5 of us decided to journey up north for 3 days of fun and sun on the Cairngorm slopes. We arrived at 4.00PM on Wednesday 24th Feb and you can guess the rest!!!!!!! We are planning another venture north around the 14th April and would really value your thoughts as to what the conditions are likely to be?
Many thanks,
JR.
March 8th, 2010 at 11:41 am
Hi Jr
Best guess with the amount of snow we have is that we will still be skiing on the 14th April, but it is impossible to predict the weather and conditions at that time. However we have been lucky this year so go for it!
Cheers
Colin
March 8th, 2010 at 12:45 pm
Hi Colin
Excellent weekend (again) at CG. Excellent fun in Aonach bowl, east wall, ciste gully etc, and some nice runs lapping the Ciste T-Bar practicing my carves. Shuttle bus back was pretty efficient too.
Have some comments that would have made it a wee bit better still. Can you not get staff behind *all* the desks in the ticket office (including pass-only, and cash-only) at 8AM at the latest, and stick some signs up so people know which queue to join. It was carnage Sunday with 50 people queueing outside closed doors from 7:45AM, and then only 1 desk open with the pass-only desk opening later, and those in the main queue trying to prevent people joining the pass-only queue because they thought we were queue jumping. Additionally, why did it take so long for the cash-only desk to open?
Also, can you encourage your T-Bar lifties to get folk to double-up? A ‘double up or don’t ride’ message would have been a good one this weekend gone. Maybe they could also suggest alternative lifts to the beginner boarders/skiiers that were elongating some of the queues (i.e WWP, CAS, CP T-Bar) by falling off all the time! We were all beginners once, but CG does have beginner lifts that should surely be mastered before more challenging lifts are attempted! At times this weekend, Poma’s rather than t-bars would have increased uplift capacity since folk were not doubling up, and boarders have far more success on poma’s than T-Bars == less waste.
Cheers
Nigel
March 8th, 2010 at 1:17 pm
Thanks Colin,
Do you send the kassbohrer down there every day at the mo? - have some friends coming up from down south on thursday so I was busy with a red pen updating your piste map for them. Will be issued with a caveat of course to ask you guys if it’s ok to head into the laoach mor, but the pisted track is useful reassurance that it’s ok to head down there and emerge somewhere out the bottom.
ta
simon
March 8th, 2010 at 5:02 pm
Hey Colin,
Was up twice today. Hit the hill at 0830am and realised after 90 minutes that I should have brought a bobsled, so packed up shop and drove down the hill.
2 hours later, wanted to go back up and drove back up. Much better on the knees once the snow softened. Everything up there today was great, minimal queues, lots of sun, no wind. Cas side was best so lapped that mutiple times!
Just praying for at least 1 more dump of snow…. do you see anything n your crystal ball? Also thinking after the kilt run on the weekend which was a right laugh, why dont you do a marketing ploy midweek ‘Wear a kilt and get a reduced price ticket!’ It was a good laugh skiing with a couple hundred skiers/boarders and it would be good to do again.
Keep up the good work,
David
March 9th, 2010 at 6:46 pm
Colin,
Any news about the question I asked you about the 5 day pass. As I’ve said it wasn’t possible to ski at all on Thursday 25th Feb as there weren’t any centres open. Also due to road conditions we weren’t able to ski on the Friday either. I love to ski in Scotland and the first three days were great but we haven’t been able to get value for money through no fault of our own. They were exceptional weather circumstances as you have admitted yourself, it would be good that instead of ‘fogging off’ a loyal Scottish skier that you could find some way to reimburse me for the lost two days.
It does state on the pass that they are through ‘Ski Scotland’. If I need to speak to someone else could you please point me in the right direction. I do feel quite stongly about this and would like to tell people how good of an experience Scotland can offer but this kind of customer service is just not good enough. Your help would be appreciated.
Thanks
Steven
March 10th, 2010 at 4:48 pm
Hi Steven,sorry for delay i have been off for the last couple of days. I have asked about here and the situation is that it is a Ski Scotland promotion and not ours and Ski Scotland get your money not us, we offer 4 day vouchers which are non consecutive and if we were closed you can still use them again. i think you need to take it up with Ski Scotland customer service and ensure you tell people it is not our customer service that is “fogging you off”.Hope you get some satisfaction.
Cheers
Colin
March 10th, 2010 at 11:16 pm
It shouldn’t matter who the money went to, the ski area that sold you the tickets should deal with matters arising. Ski Scotland is rather a nebulous idea rather than a company in a physical location that members of the public can easily track down and hold to account. I can see no contact details or info on the Ski Scotland website, it’s completely anonymous.
March 11th, 2010 at 12:48 am
Colin,
Yeah thanks for the reply. As I said it does say it’s Ski Scotland on the ticket, it’s just if I was to get a ticket for the day(s) that the centres weren’t open it would be more money for the local economy and another happy customer satisfied that he hasn’t been conned.
Anyway thanks for your help.
Steven
March 11th, 2010 at 9:01 am
Steven,
I use the 4 day vouchers and am about to get my 4th batch (kicking myself never got season ticket), but the vouchers are great value. Anytime I’ve gone to the Ranger Base to exchange them, there’s been no queue, so I get straight on the hill. Hope you get something back.
March 11th, 2010 at 1:29 pm
Isn’t it about time you looked at the snow cannon again Colin:-)
March 11th, 2010 at 5:36 pm
Snow Bunny
Thinking about it soon, still trying to find the Sheiling water tank and i,m not wanting to ask anyone to do any more digging in case i get a shovel wrapped round my lug!
Cheers
Colin
March 11th, 2010 at 8:20 pm
Hi colin, been keeping an eye on all the posts since was up for skiing in new year and new years day (was a bit of an adventure!!!!!! with the mount of snow up there!)
We are planning on coming up for the bank holiday weekend 2nd -5th April, and hoppfully will be able to get on the hill before 2pm this time! looks like you and the whole team have been doing a fantastic job, cant wait to get back up there!
March 11th, 2010 at 9:13 pm
I hear the magical 100,000 figure has been broken on the skier days front. Big congratulations to everyone on the hill who has helped achieve it.
Yes, time to do some work on the snow cannon, need to ensure the lambing storm arrives in style!
Alan
March 12th, 2010 at 7:58 pm
Yes well done on what now must be over 100,000 customers http://www.skiinfo.co.uk/News-104-en.jhtml?a=153339
Delighted to hear that you are planning to keep running possibly to the May bank holiday and if there’s snow and people maybe beyond.
My favourite time- spring snow and sunshine. Also a great time to learn, especially for children.
All bloggers, if you’ve not tried late season skiing it’s definitely worth giving it a go.
March 13th, 2010 at 11:43 am
I am heading up the slopes wed to friday this coming week. Hope the winds die down a bit. Colin what is the forcast for the week ahead. Have not been on the slopes in 2 yrs so really looking forward to it.
March 13th, 2010 at 6:43 pm
Hi Keith, as far as i can gather we might be in for high pressure and maybe crisp nights and warmer days so i would hope there is some nice spring skiing to come before the next powder day.
On another note we actually witnessed the slide off the Lower Ciste Crag with chunks as big and as solid as a quad bike coming down, so i would recomend people to keep to the Aonach side until they are past the danger area. We will try and knock more off tomorrow so keep away from the roped off area.
Thanks for the congrats on reaching the 100,000 last week, with a good Easter who knows where we will end up. Anyone fancy a sweepstake?
Cheers
Col
March 13th, 2010 at 10:32 pm
On the plus side, any snow falling off the Cranberry Rocks will increase the chance of a skiable line remaining down to the Ciste Carpark for longer. Any chance of getting some blasts rigged right the way down the ridge just to make sure?
Talking of easter - any possibility of holding a massive Spring Festival? An event akin to the one held across the entire hill in 1994 would be a great way to bring in the punters and end the season on a real high note.
Jamie.
March 14th, 2010 at 5:50 am
hi Jamie
We are planning a festival type event on the May Day bank holiday, then if conditions allow perhaps weekend skiing after that. Over the Easter Holidays we hope to have evening skiing and maybe some other things we are still talking about.
Cheers
Colin
March 14th, 2010 at 9:51 am
Good to hear that you are planning something for the May Day Bank holiday, last May festival was a great day out. Hopefully I can get back over for and take the kids up.
March 14th, 2010 at 2:20 pm
One for marketing in terms of trying to boost spring numbers, keep the interest and try and strengthen the season ticket customer base for the future.
If ever there was the time to do a spring season pass this looks like it. Capture the interest from this season and try to carry it forward, maybe price a Spring Season Pass, equivalent price to the 4 day vouchers plus one day?
Hopefully boost interest in spring riding and thus numbers, but perhaps more significantly also introduce new folk to the advantages of a season ticket (and bring back a few folk) and by the end of the season they maybe be buying up a full season ticket for next winter.
March 14th, 2010 at 6:28 pm
Hi Colin,
Evening skiing… Yes please!!
That’ll help my annual leave reserves….Rate I’m going I’ll have no summer leave to take….
Please also arrange lots of blue skies as the grey ones are not as pretty….;-)
Cheers
Lorraine
March 15th, 2010 at 5:57 pm
Chris Says:
March 14th, 2010 at 9:48 pm edit
Jenny Clarke put me on to this thread after I e-mailed about re-investing this year’s profits - and aren’t we all really grateful it’s been a hoofing year! I asked about cleaning up the mountain as they do in the Alps when tows are de-commissioned or new ones put into replace the old. Accordingly, what about clearing away the Ciste pylons and chair detritus at the bottom and also what’s the future of the White lady T Bar - if it ain’t go to run again bring it down and clean up! And I’m not a green warrior but it would be good some return being made to mother nature
March 15th, 2010 at 5:59 pm
H Chris
We intend to remove the rest of the pylons from the White Lady, Fiaciall and Aonach over the remainder of the season,as for round at the Ciste car park side, if we get the lower chair running again we will tie that in with a more appealing bottom station, ticket office, toilets etc and hopefully be able to reuse the old chairs. We are well aware it is a bit of an eyesore round there, but whatever happens we will be trying to tidy it up this summer anyway. We have quotes in for new t-bar boxes for the Cas with a slower retract rate as in the top t - bars. This will reduce downtime and damage and reduce injuries from swinging bars, they dont come cheap £1800 x 76. We are also wanting to renew the whole return stations on the Ptarmigan and Cas tows. We have ordered a new drive system for the Ciste Tow so already we are looking at spending considerable money just keeping uplift up to scratch.
Cheers
Colin
March 15th, 2010 at 6:56 pm
Am heading over to the Cairngorms on Wednesday for a few days skiing. Hope the predicted weather forcast is not correct as says there is to be rain and strong winds. The last thing I want to do is ski in rain and windy weather! Do you have a more accurate weather outlook Colin?
March 15th, 2010 at 7:38 pm
Before buying new t-bar boxes, could someone be commissioned to design a new entry point at the top which copes better with swinging t-bars? If this were possible (I don’t know that it is), it would be a much cheaper option.
March 16th, 2010 at 7:58 am
Keith
We have the same forecasts as you probably do, however they are sometimes not that accurate, Wednesday should be reasonably dry but maybe breezy but most terrain shouls be accessable. I hope it is descent as No.1 daughter is racing in the Highland Schools comp.
Surfer, i can understand what you mean but another fact is the difficulty getting spares for these old boxes, if we upgrade to modern equipment our spares costs should come down. It is not just the dismount area that causes problems, when people fall off at the start or anywhere on the line it normally causes the t-bar to go over the rope pulling the rope of the towers and other damage, since we put the modern boxes on the Ciste and Ptarmigan we have never had bars over the line or ropes off due to customer error or misuse(ie jumping off before the top!)
Cheers
Colin
March 18th, 2010 at 10:23 am
I would definately be interested in 2 adult & 1 child spring easter pass. However, it would need to be issued early enough, as I can only get up at the weekends.
March 20th, 2010 at 7:19 pm
Colin. Thanks to Ian, Tania you, Jenny & your other colleagues who looked after us at the Season Ticket Holders’ meeting this afternoon. I thought the discussion & exchange of information was interesting & informative & hope you will build on the massive amount of goodwill that clearly exists for CML. Had a great couple of hours’ skiing before the meeting, the M1 & the Fiacaill were excellent - almost too easy! Looking forward to many more good days before summer kicks in.
March 22nd, 2010 at 6:39 pm
Just back from some fantastic skiing this afternoon. Who would have believed that the stormy conditions of this morning could change so fast? From 14:30 -16:30 it was easy to complete two runs on the Cas & eight or nine (lost count, sorry) on the M1 in brilliant sunshine & very acceptable snow, almost to the end. The few others I spoke to said the had done as much boarding/skiing in one afternoon as they sometimes manage in an entire day. Had it not been for the promptly updated CML website, I’d have missed out. Information, information, information. Keep it coming, good or bad. Thanks to the Team. Cheers, Ron.