The Mountain Spirit Winter Fest is due to be held at the week end. Rob Edmonds, from Mountain Spirit sports shop in Aviemore has put together a brilliant programme for the weekend.  We are delighted to be able to host this initiative at Cairngorm and this is an excellent example of working in collaboration with others to provide mutual benefit for local businesses and our snow sports visitors.   The weather at the moment looks challenging, but this can change and as always we will do whatever we can to provide a good weekend for everyone.

 We work closely with many local businesses and at this time of year the Aviemore ski retailers are important ambassadors for the whole area. They are able to help visiting skiers and boarders make the most of their time here, and their advice and local knowledge is really helpful, particularly when conditions change at short notice.  

These days people have far more choice in what they do in their leisure time and the Scottish ski industry not only has to try and compete with other ski destinations, but also with other leisure pursuits. The Scottish ski areas work together in a group called the Association of Scottish Ski areas (ASSA). We firmly believe it is in all our interests that all 5 ski areas can sustain and develop skiing opportunities in Scotland.

At a more local level we take an active role within the local destination management organisation (ACDMO), one of the first DMO’s in Scotland.  The organisation is based on the principle of collaboration in the private sector to improve our tourism offering- which of course includes winter sports.  It’s still early days but we believe this collaborative approach is the way forward. 

Cairn Gorm sits at the heart of the recently formed Cairngorms National Park and this has provided another excellent opportunity to work with many other stakeholders to develop a truly sustainable future for the whole area.

We have supported and continue to support a number of community initiatives and the team here at Cairngorm has raised funds for both local charities and National charities. We are particularly keen to support local young people and provide free skiing through the School ski initiative involving   local primary schools, as well as scholarship season passes for local youngsters who get involved in the competitive side of snow sports.

We may not be able to manage the weather; therefore we believe it’s even more important that we all work together in our area to make sure our visitors get the best possible experience, snow or no snow.

Crossed fingers for reasonable weather at the week end – we still have good snow down to the middle.

Bob.        

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 28th, 2008 at 1:11 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.