Aye, and the estates still fight hard tae keep it that way...

Some land tae the west and north of the access road was on the market a few years back, seemed a bit overpriced but I wonder if someone wi vision and baws bought it or another dinosaur?

I'd like tae see more of a development including cabins and even houses around the access road, car-park and up tae where they are now with the huts and plenty mair trees and a 24hr shop selling skins, clippers and space raiders...

None, that was not my point however. It just gets my goat when people refer to the "countryside" as natural and wild and other equally incorrect adjectives. We need to understand that what we see in the UK is not remotely "natural" and has been extensively shaped by man.

For the record I come from the militant conservationist wing and given half a chance would be out with the machine guns decimating the deer population and forcibly neutering domestic cats over the highlands of Scotland for starters, closely followed by an extermination programme for grey squirrels.

Topic seems to have drifted, the current thread is maybe a good one for the Winterhighland Bothy and this thread can be left for providing feedback on development plans.

My mate has is starting tae stick some snowsports tshirts n hoodies on ebay, couple of cliffy chair ones are up I think, he bought a hat last time he was up and it should have had the resorts branding on it, cannae get any better than people paying tae advertise for ya...

I agree with much of the above. Whilst the estate in question may be supportive, they could equally change their minds and not be supportive. This would shut Glen Coe Ski Centre and in my view, they should not have that power.

Ownership is one part of the issue but control is another. Currently we have a situation where owners profit from the asset and control what can happen over vast areas.

That's where we are though. I am not in favour of nationalisation of the land but I am in favour of very harsh penalties against the owners if certain conditions are no met thus:

1) local communities get a share (min 50%) of all revenue and profit.
2) the land is managed in a more economically and ecologically sound way. There are far too many deer leaving the place devoid of trees and other attributes.
3) all estates must have a community plan and ecological plan which is developed with the community and ecology in mind
4) if the plans are not implemented properly the penalties are so harsh that they would force the owner to sell.
5) an asset lock on any sales meaning the community retains control of assets.

Good point Igloo4you! Ok, here's some questions:

- Bigger car park?
- Cabins in the woods?
- Is the mega death-slide thingy still on the cards?
- How about a luge d'ete?

You and your team are doing an amazing job. Glencoe leads and the others follow...

[www.youtube.com]

Interesting ? points from Chairman Mao (Morris)

What?

Knobby,

Bigger car park - working on that.

Cabins in the woods - in the the long term plans

Zip rider - still in the plans but probably not until 2016 as lots of new lifts to build

Luge - no plans at the moment

Andy

Andy's reply illustrate why so many of us like Glencoe.

Couldn't imagine Natural Retreats giving quick and honest replies to questions like that!

It's a shame that the zip wire isn't being built until 2016. I'm certain that would be a real money spinner during the summer and make Glencoe Resort a year round destination. But having said that, I'm fine if it means that we get more/upgraded uplift sooner!



Edited 2 times. Last edit at 11.48hrs Sat 28 Feb 15 by muzza.

Yes I totally agree and the irony is we own the Cairn Gorm Estate already but have decided to pass control of it to a company from Manchester. The result is we now have no control, no income and no way to influence how the place is run.

It looks like the planning application for the new drag lift has now gone in:

[wam.highland.gov.uk]

I'll be submitting a supportive comment shortly.



+1 for that, this kind of engagement keeps people interested and (hopefully) excited about future developments. That said, I'm sure it helps that he doesn't have to get everything cleared by a remote management team who may have other priorities.

On DonaldM's point about Cairngorm & Natural Retreats, I wonder how many people have actually written to Cairngorm, HIE or Fergus Ewing (the Scottish Parliament minister) expressing concern about what's going on. I have, to little effect I suspect but the more adverse mail they get the more likely they are to do something about it. However, as Igloo4u says, maybe that's for a different thread... one with Cairngorm in the title.

On the Glencoe plans. Is the exact positioning set in stone now ? It seems to me it'd be a bit better if the bottom was a bit below the plateau cafe and more towards the Poma. There's usually a big snow patch in that shallow bowl and if you could get the rope tow over from the access chair up and ski down to the new tow that'd take pressure off the Poma. The Poma could then run at full speed and beginners could learn on the rope & new tow.

Maf, That's where it's going.

Andy/igloo, any plans for increasing mtb uplift/tracks?