Weather permitting there are  normally a handful of skiing enthusiasts who make it up to enjoy the last few snow patches on the back of Cairn Gorm on mid summer’s day.  This year a dozen or so hardy skiers and boarders walked up to the patch to the east of the summit. The final remnants of the good snow this winter meant that the patch was much larger than it was at this time last year. By all accounts the vertical drop was around 100 meters.   The guys built a kicker and there were some impressive iron cross and 180 jumps. I have copied one of the photos taken by Sandy McBean below and there are some great shots on Highland Instinct- follow the link   http://www.highland-instinct.co.uk/gallery/cg/winter200708/08jun21/   Bob

These days Cairngorm Mountain is a very busy place throughout the summer, as well as our “normal” business we have lots of other things going on, and of course we are open 7 days of the week. At the week end we enjoyed hosting the inaugural Cairngorm Classic road cycling event. Promoted as UK’s highest event on a public road (632m) and held largely within the boundaries of the Cairngorms National Park, the event attracted over 350 cyclists of all standards.  The sting in the tail was the final climb up the hill road following 50 or 100 miles of cycling, depending which option you selected. Surprisingly at the Sugar Bowl section it is steeper than many alpine passes. (I took the easy option and enjoyed the 50 mile route). I am sure this event will grow in popularity – and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the organisers (for more information go to www.Handsonevents.co.uk). 

Other events coming up are:The Cairngorm Mountain Run on the 9^th August – 900metres of uphill slog for the really masochistic. www.cairngormmountainrun.co.uk  and in October the popular Cairngorm Charmer adventure relay running and mountain biking event  www.thecharmer.org On Sunday 22nd June the Biathlon Roller Ski Championships.will be taking place on the hill . This is  an opportunity to see some of the UK’s top biathlon skiers on roller skis. Racing starts at 9am on the hill road and the finish is at the Coire Cas Car Park. Racing will be  between 9.30am and 11am. 

As much as we enjoy helping to organise the events, we have a business to run and these events really do help to put Cairn Gorm on the map as well as increasing sales.  On Saturday the CAS bar was as busy as a winter week end with bacon rolls and cappuccinos top of the popularity stakes on the menu!

Bob    

As you will have seen in the press the operating company; Cairn Gorm Mountain limited is now owned by Highlands and islands Enterprise (HIE) and no longer by Cairngorm Mountain Trust.

As far as the team on site is concerned, it’s very much business as usual and we are working through our preparations for next winter as well as looking after our summer visitors.  Morale remains high as we go through these changing circumstances. I strongly believe this move is in the best interest of the company staff, our local community, the future of skiing and the protection of the environment. As we are now a subsidiary of a government agency we are directly accountable to HIE and this will inevitably mean changes in our internal operating procedures. However, there should be no noticeable effect as far as customers are concerned. During this initial phase HIE will carry out a general audit of the current operating company.  My understanding is that they are looking to restructure the operations to ensure that they can be profitable regardless of the fluctuations in our winters, a position that we have been working towards for some time.

We enjoyed excellent weather throughout May and this was reflected in above average visitor numbers, although the start of June has been a bit quieter. It will be interesting to see what the impact of the credit crunch, price of fuel and weak pound will be this summer. I attended a meeting chaired by the Minister of Tourism yesterday looking at the whole issue of sustainable tourism – in some ways we are already ahead of the game in this area, but in other ways we have a long way to go- not least of all our public transport infrastructure! 

Promises to be another full on summer.

Bob

Thanks to everyone who took part and to the Ski club for organising!

Bob