Back to the weather
Not another Blog about the weather…yep, sadly so much of what we do depends on it.
Last week-end was a classic…yes we had wind, we even had a gust of 176mph at the tunnel mouth on Friday, but that’s not too unusual. What did knock us for six was the rain…or, to be more precise, the floods that resulted. On Saturday the road from Aviemore was impassable and it was also not possible to cross the Spey at Kincraig or Kingussie. The only way across the Spey was at Boat of Garten. We managed to get the majority of staff in, only to be almost blown off the mountain on Saturday morning. Winds were forecast to drop and by the afternoon we did manage to offer some quite reasonable skiing…but with access restricted and the resultant slow start, the number of snowsports enthusiasts was much lower than would have been expected on a “normal”( if there is such a thing in Scottish skiing ) weekend. What is often forgotten is the cost of making the effort to get open is almost the same whether we have 2,500 skiers or 100 skiers; that’s the nature of the business. If the weather forecast had been wrong, and it sometimes is, we would have been ready to cope with the numbers – including the demand for sandwiches!
I was encouraged by the response to the last blog about the access road and parking. For those who can remember, there used to be a charge for parking. This was replaced by absorbing the cost in the price of a day pass. These days we have far more visitors to the car park than use the facilities. Taking into account statistics from a Highland Council traffic counter and observation surveys of numbers per car, we reckon we get around half a million visitors to the car park each year. Only about half either ski or visit the funicular but is there a fair system of charging for parking that would be manageable, practical and acceptable to all users?
Although we lost some snow in the last thaw, the main gullies still have a surprisingly good base and hopefully with more snow forecast we will be able to offer good skiing and boarding over half term.
Bob
January 30th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
well, hi bob… just thought i’d comment as i was reading your blog, i saw the picture of the van in the water and thought i’d tell a story. Well so one dour morning we were on our way to work (that morning) in full cairngorm lifty kit (yes we’re liftie’s) and low and behold we encountered the flood too! indeed it was deep perhaps 1 meter or more, however we were driving a 4×4 pickup, and although a little late for work that day(due to that flood), i thought it would be good for you to know that the car/van in the picture that got stranded was in the water when we were there…… and with great enthusiasm myself and sandy represented and drove headlong in to rescue that vehicle and indeed a few more. With a interesting start to the day and with much fun indeed (and indeed a rather large wake) we dragged cars out to the sound of the pipes, and the relief on the faces of the drivers was consumate. Great fun! maybe i have some snaps for you if you’d like to see too. Go cairngorm! -paul (and sandy)
January 31st, 2008 at 9:49 am
Bob
Issue a windscreen sticker with the season ticket
Everyone else who parks pays
If you are using CML uplift you can exchange your car park ticket for a discount off your uplift (summer or winter)
If you are just strolling around the car park , climbing or walking you are paying for parking. You pay everywhere else for parking (even in Aviemore) why not on Cairngorm.
Close the car park at a set time each evening and inform the public well in advance that this will happen (web site, leaflet, printed on ticket) so you dont get the moans about people being shut in
January 31st, 2008 at 3:40 pm
Hi Bob. Martin Rowe here in France. Great idea to have a blog. Tignes has a system on their car park in the Winter. If you produce a day ticket at the end of the day, the car park is free, if not you pay. Cheers, Martin
February 1st, 2008 at 6:27 am
Have enjoyed browsing through your website. Sorry to hear about the floods. If it is any consolation we are also having rain rather than snow here in southern Bavaria/Tirol. Damned global warming is determined to freak out the keen skiers amongst us! Keep up the good work Bob and light a storm candle on one of the peaks and pray for snow!!!
Wendy, Kiefersfelden, Bavaria
February 1st, 2008 at 11:13 am
Half a million non skiing/funicular visitors - even at 4 per car and a £1 charge that would be an extra £125K in thekitty for mainaining the lifts. Showing your ticket to get out sounds like a good idea - it would not tie up any additional staff in the morning when presumably there is a push to get everything going.
February 1st, 2008 at 6:45 pm
Given the number of people who use the Gorm car parks as starting points for walking/climbing/sledging/bird-watching/somnambulism etc and the number of vehicles competing for space on big days - there now effectively seems to be a situation where lack of available parking space is limiting sliding numbers at peak times. On a big day, therefore, every space taken in the car park by somebody not paying for sliding or using the train is revenue lost. Given this I think the time has come for car parking charges to be introduced in order to provide a little compensation.
I have to say that when I use the car park as a starting point for ski touring or walking then the notion of having to pay for the privilege doesn’t fill me with too much horror. However when I’m up there to use my season ticket I would definitely hope not to have to pay for parking! Bill’s ideas seem to be good ones.
Just also like to say I’m enjoying the blog and hope you keep producing it.
February 3rd, 2008 at 5:07 am
hi bob im a skier from inverness and think a charge for non users of the railway and slopes is fair ,you could introduce a system like morrisons do where you pay a fee to park (£1) then when you purchase a lift pass or some food or rail ticket you get the quid back thus insuring that all ho use the service you provide get a fair deal .
ps nice site and blog will be skiing today weather permitting
February 11th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Parking charges? Surely this would cost money to be implemented correctly, with wardens, etc? Is it really worth it, especially when you need to encourage people to visit during the non-ski months.
Maybe have the parking charge on for the Ski season, when the car parks do overflow and the skiiers could pay via their day-tickets or whatever and anyone not skiing, pays the charge??
August 9th, 2008 at 10:35 pm
just to reopen this debate…
Here in Oz we have to pay between $16-$32 dollars every time we enter a ‘national park’. This isn’t the same as in the UK, in fact it seems like anybody can apply for a stretch of wood, cliff or coast to get this status. I have just come back from a day’s skiing at Mt Buller in Victoria, and they have a $32 (about £15) charge to get on the hill, which includes parking and the shuttle bus. However, you cannot go onto the hill without it. This is the same everywhere here. As much as I hate parking fees, they are a necessary source of reliable income. You need them. Good luck, and great blog btw!
August 10th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
is there any information about this in other languages, maybe german or other else?
August 12th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
wissen Sie alle mögliche Informationen über dieses in anderen Sprachen