The glencoe plans make sense.
Alan makes a good case / explanation above.
Exciting times and Andy Meldrum deserves credit for making it happen

On a busy weekend the longest lines are always for the plateau poma and cliffhanger chair. These proposed new lifts should fix this issue and make Glencoe more attractive for intermediates / beginners ? The proposed new chair will also solve the age old issue of getting punters to the upper runs when the plateau runs have no snow.

In an ideal / fantasy world I would like a 4 man chair from top of the access to where the cliffhanger finishes (then simply rip out the cliffhanger chair). This would allow the entire mountain to be accessed with just 2 lifts? Which would be ideal for quiet mid week days <etc>. Plus it might connect up better? However it would also be much more expensive job....



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Except when there is no snow on the plateau it would give you direct access to the snow in the main basin. If you cannot get from the top of the new chair to the bottom of the main basin tows, the new lift does nothing to fix this particular issue that Glencoe has.

Rope tow top of button to Spring run traverse? Just for the incline and first flat bit.

Really excited about the new proposals. Well done to Andy and all his devoted staff.
Investment in upgrading of equipment might stop any whinning from the machinery.
No amount of investment will stop then incessant whinning from those who want it laid out on a plate.;-)
As a frequent long term visitor to the Coe, I am encouraged by the gradual, sympathetic development and investment at Glencoe.
Very well done.



Edited 1 times. Last edit at 20.35hrs Mon 9 Feb 15 by paraffin.

well done guys. not long ago the Coe was on its knees. Andy and the team have really turned things around and we are very grateful for all of the dedication the team show in keeping the place running under very difficult circumstances. Good work!

Not sure who Paraffins swipe was aimed at. Unless making a suggestion is banned? If it wasn't me then apologies. I have been skiing the Coe for 15 years at least 10 times a season. I think its great that its still open and is being developed as well. But like everything in life small things can improve the customer experience. So no whining just polite suggestions.

There doesn't need to be snow on the Plateau to access the Cliffhanger Chair from the proposed new Chair's top station on snow. The runout from the Spring Run down Old Mugs Alley is a natural snow field and holds snow better and longer than the fenced Plateau Poma run.

Something for the future from the new chair would be a footpath up the upper leg of Mugs Alley, past the top of the Wall T-bar and then winding down onto the Col between Meall a' Bhuiridh and Creag Dhubh and on to the view point there and existing path back to the top of the Access Chair. It would provide an absolutely stunning lift assisted short hike with some epic views over the moor and down into Glen Etive.

I did figure this would probably be the idea, I guess all it needs to round it off is some snow making to ensure this run stays open.

From what I gather the longer term thinking (10-20 years) is to build a new larger cafe, for summer and winter visitors, somewhere on the flat area near top of the plateau poma.

Hopefully any development will preserve the character of the mountain. One of the best things about skiing at Glencoe is the unspoiled and wild nature of the mountain? The mountain not being cluttered with ski lifts or infrastructure is part of its attraction? (...and is why I would advocate ripping out the low capacity cliffhanger chair and replacing with a chair than runs across plateau).

The terrain being accessed with fewer high capacity lifts has many benefits ?
i.e Lower visual impact, less maintenance and fewer lifties required.


[www.haggistrap.co.uk]



Edited 1 times. Last edit at 14.52hrs Tue 10 Feb 15 by Doug_Bryce.

Chair to the bottom of the spring run, would that allow for a free ride bike park/ski board cross course between the poma and low road in the future?

It would be great to raise the seating capacity on the cliffhanger(even to two!). bottlenecks have always been glencoe's problem and small changes to existing lines could make all the difference expecially to wend/midterm tracffic.

why is the bottom lift run so slow, is it to save the ol bugger's ticker or something else? It takes such a long time to get to the top. I dont know anyone that doesn't ride that beast without losing the sense in their fingers by the time you get to the top. Do the wheels at the top and bottom need some sort of disengage mech to allow the line to run faster without turning beginners into bowling alley pins???

mang_out, chair can run up to twice as fast but when run at that faster speed it constantly has to stop as people can't get on or off. Meaning it becomes even slower with constant stoppages. Speed it runs at is the speed that people can comfortably get on and off. We run it at the optimum speed for a fixed grip chair but it runs twice as fast for staff.

Poor staff!! Images of them "ejected "at the top

Is it the exit ramp at the top that people have a problem with? If so, some investment to improve that would be well worthwhile.

The access chair is freezing for younger kids and on blustery days like Friday, my 8 year old, full of enthusiasm at the base, was ready to pack it in by the plateau! And that was with full face mask cover and no exposed skin.

I suspect it has more to do with foot passengers on the way up and everybody having to get off on foot when downloading at the bottom.