Still here!
It’s August already, another month of change on the mountain. The cloudberries are ripening at the moment, the heather is just about to bloom and the midges have eventually woken up. Over the next few weeks we start to experience cooler nights, and it is not unusual to get a sprinkling of snow in early September. Incidentally the final snow on the Head Wall melted on Thursday 24th July. I apologise that I have not been “on the Blog” over the past few weeks; we have been catching our breath from last season and preparing for the next, as well as running our summer business. We have also been somewhat pre-occupied with the transition of the business to public sector ownership. The Highlands and Islands Enterprise are being incredibly supportive, with limited resources and we hope this will lead to a stronger business model on Cairn Gorm in the future. It’s very much business as usual, we tend to be busy on sunny days and quiet when it rains. Both May and June were reasonable trading months but we experienced two really wet weeks in July when numbers are normally very high. We have already hosted a number of weddings and the evening fine dinning and ceilidh nights are as popular as ever. Being open seven days a week and 3 evenings a week means that it is still a very busy time for the staff, but the main difference from the winter is that the working day tends to start later and finish later. A programme of fence repairs and tow maintenance is ongoing and we have a major Funicular service scheduled for November this year when we will be running our Christmas Market again in the T Bar during the closure. I have attached some pictures below of on going maintenance taken by Peter Malat who works with our ranger team.
Bob
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August 10th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Bob,
If we have an early snow fall in November or early December which is sufficient enough for skiing, when do you see the mountain being in full operation?
Nice to see the maintenance is going well and looking forward to a great season.
August 11th, 2008 at 10:08 am
We normally plan for opening fully by the Christmas holidaythe same as most ski areas, but we have always reacted to early snow in previous year’s and we do not anticipate any changes this year. last sesaon we started skiing in early December. We have often started skiing earlier , but on a limited basis. One difference this year will be that we have a a major Funicular service in November and it won’t run until this is completed.
Bob
August 16th, 2008 at 7:54 pm
Bob,
What’s the status of the White Lady T-bar? Is this to be repaired as part of your summer maintenance in light of last seasons success?
August 18th, 2008 at 9:13 am
In view of the complexities with this repair and concerns raised by our own technical team we have commissioned an independent technical review of the White Lady tow and we have also just completed an external safety audit. We will look closely at the reports from these two sources and then make a final decision for the coming winter. As soon as the decision is made one way or another we will let everyone know.
bob