Skiing into May
We have put together a celebration week end for the May bank holiday including some great lift pass offers and activities-(ski for £9.25), this is our way of saying thank you to both our local community and our skiing/boarding community. The other way we can also say thanks to regular skiers/season pass holders is to try and remain open to allow everyone to enjoy a bit more spring skiing, although the numbers will inevitably drop off. It would be easy to pull the plug on it, but we don’t want to do this –it sends out the wrong message about our commitment to Skiing and our commitment to our loyal customers, nevertheless we will have to make a realistic decision at some stage, so much depends on unknowns – the weather and the interest.
I want to take this opportunity to publicly thank two key managers who will be leaving in May. Firstly John McBean who has been heading up out technical maintenance department and secondly John McMorran who has been our safety manager and I know a popular point of contact for our winter customers. I also want to acknowledge the efforts of all our seasonal staff, and finally our volunteer ambassadors, from the feedback I receive they really do make difference to our visitors experience on Cairn Gorm.
Not over yet… sunshine and lower winds forecast for Sunday and snow .. So if you can get fuel …..
Bob
April 27th, 2008 at 10:14 am
Hello,
I’m going to stay at the glenmore lodge next week - my plan was walking in the cairngorms - skiing was not planned. Do you think it will be possible to do skiing on the Saturday 3rd of May? (This would be my first possible day)
Thanks for your appresial.
Sandra
PS I’m german, so my English isn’t perfect, sorry for this.
April 27th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
Yes - we are hoping to be open for skiing next week end - but it all depends on the weather. You will be able to get up to date information at Glenmore lodge when you arrive.
Bob
April 28th, 2008 at 11:48 pm
Hi
Am very excited at the possibility of squeezing one more day of boarding out of this season. However with all the good snow this year, and lack of fuel (travelling from ayrshire), am very skint!! (just back from Tignes, where I was rooked for all my money! Damn Euro exchange) Do you think it’s worth me travelling up? I can manage a red run, not really a black (unless someone wants to help me down!) so in your opinion do you think the conditions will be ok for my level?
Thanks in advance
Kirsty
April 29th, 2008 at 7:52 am
Kirsty, It’s going to be all down to the weather and a last minute decision later in the week. We have reduced the lift pass price next weekend to below £10. Today it is still possible to ski down to the middle via the Cas. On piste snow is no greater than red. A few centimeters of fresh snow fell in the night - but temperatures are quite high just now and by the end of each day we have a net loss of snow. I think Glencoe and Nevis will also be open at the week end - so maybe worth checking to see where you can get the best day out.
bob
April 29th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
Bob
Many thanks for reply. Think I’ll head up anyway - sounds like a fun weekend wether skiing or not.
Cheers again
Kirsty
April 30th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
Bob, couple of questions about this coming weekend.
Is online ticketing going to be available? At the moment it’s showing no tickets available.
If not, is there any other way I can pre-book, guaranteeing tickets and save on queuing times? (We’re coming a fair distance with the kids so don’t want them to be disappointed if there are limited tickets available etc.)
Also can you give more details of the Ice Bar, Hog Roast and Snow Caves please? They’re all mentioned in the news item on the site but not in the downloadable document detailing all the events.
Thanks and well done on such an excellent programme of events, and on such cheap ticketing!
I know some of us moan sometimes but CML really deserve a big thumbs up for organising all of this and staying open - thanks
May 1st, 2008 at 8:59 am
Hi Roger
Bob has asked to respond to the Snowfest points you have raised. We will do our best to run the full programme but as ever the weather may influence any final programme!
The Ice Bar will be run by the Cairngorm Brewery on both Saturday and Sunday outside the Top Station. The Hog Roast will run outside the Cas Bar at the top of the car park on Sunday only. (available from around 11am).
A snow cave is being constructed in the snow pack of the huge jump that is located in the fun park in the Ptarmigan Bowl and as I write this response online ski tickets for the weekend are going on the web site!
The weather looks better for Saturday rather than Sunday but we should have some fun whatever it throws at us!
Hope to see you up over the weekend.
Tania
May 1st, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Thanks for that Tania - sounds even better now
May 1st, 2008 at 5:25 pm
Bob will you be running weekends only if snow pack remains or do you have a fixed end date set now!!! I still want to get in a few more turns before the end of May but not this weekend.
May 1st, 2008 at 8:01 pm
We have only had a few skiers each day this week and the temperatures have been quite high, although we still have good snow cover on the upper part of the mountain. We will see how this weekend goes and keep you updated.
bob
May 5th, 2008 at 9:44 am
Any chance of some action next weekend or are you planning on closing for the season after today?
I ended up in bed with the cold yesterday rather than up at cairngorms and missed the great day my mates had.
I have to applaud (from a distance) the work you have all put in this weekend. The photos I have seen look great. My wife doesn’t ski (which limits my number of days) but she said she would have gone up when she saw the guided walks, snow cat tours, avalanche rescue dog and bar were all on this weekend. That would be a good regular event (i know it is probably resource intensive but a couple of times a season would be good!)
Slainte,
Chris