I'm surprised this hasn't had a mention yet...

[www.bbc.co.uk]

Its hidden away here
[www.cairngormmountain.org]



Mike in Edinburgh
Assorted scottish pics - www.prog99.com

Says it'll be reviewed in the Autumn, but if they keep that charge as a year round thing then it might mean that Cairngorm's market share of Skier days drops even further in the future.

If it really does go into facilities etc then I don't have a big problem but I'd guess the odds of the cash being ring fenced and not servicing NR debt repayments are pretty long

2quid in the summer I can deal with and is way cheaper than parking in the lakes. Thin end of the wedge though and a bit much on top of an already expensive lift pass?



Mike in Edinburgh
Assorted scottish pics - www.prog99.com

Not really fair on the average snowsport punter again. The £2 should be removed from a ski or funicular ticket price.

So you end up right at the bottom of the car park, you traipse up to the daylodge to join the queue for lift-tickets, then join another queue for car park tickets, then traipse back down to the end of the car park to stick your ticket in the windscreen, then traipse back up the car park to join the queue for the funicular.

sound like a major step forward!

May I suggest £1 charge for entry to Ptarmigan Restaurant to cover eating as part of your experience and also to cover dish washing, as voluntary contributions have produced mimimal imput.. Some idiots thought the price of your meal included this.

Whilst on this topic, I may have to visit the loo but the cost of soap and toilet paper necessitates some additional charges in order tp maintain standard.

Oh no!

NR (or whatever they are called this week) gives up on Cairngorm. Operation taken over by Ryanair who introduce a charge for use of skis and boards when used on a marked run to cover costs of piste preparation. (should encourage ski-tourers to stop using Glenshee).

Depending on fine details a parking charge might not be unreasonable.
Why should the ski hill pay considerable cost of clearing road in winter?
Just for front of upper car park to be filled with climbers / winter skills groups & ski tourers?

Though I doubt many will trust Natural Retreats to implement this properly and reinvest the profits ;-)

Presume this will be Pay & Display. I remember the old days queuing to pay car park charge at the hut at Glenmore. More concerned about how I display my season ticket on the windscreen whilst using it to access funicular / lifts?? Or will I get parking permit along with season ticket?

I agree a parking charge may not be unreasonable, particularly for those spending nothing on site and just using it as access, but it will all be in the detail and I for one don't trust NR. I would hope that season pass holders would also get a car park season pass, which I guess they will as they article suggests a car park season pass will be available for £25. How they do it for funicular/snow sport users will be harder, though the easiest would be a pay and display and its just an extra cost of going to CairnGorm on top of the lift pass.

The local newspaper [The Strathy] queried whether or not skiers would be charged for parking. The answer was that they would be. However, that was last week and this week they are saying, on their fb, in response to a customer question, that skiers will not be charged to park.
Common sense prevailing or one hand not knowing what the other is doing?

Kind regards

Olderalan

Alan, if true (ie skiers don't pay), how will the "enforcement" authority identify vehicles parked belonging to skiers/boarders paying for a lift pass, and everybody else who doesn't?

I am not completely against summer parking charges: Nevis Range charge off season, however they have a fantastic network of xc bike trails, so good on Nevis for charging as they have to maintain their excellent infrastructure....
Meanwhile over at Cairngorm, we were up there hillwalking recently and put £2 into the donations box as it said the money would be used to upgrade the paths, which to me is a good thing... Having read their news release it looks like this was never the case.

They now want £2 for a car or £8 for a campervan: why is a campervan owner being charged £6 more than a car? Yes a big motorhome takes up more space than a car but since these charges are supposed to be a trial until Autumn, there is never an issue of car parking space outwith ski season. They are not providing a water supply, waste disposal, toilets, showers or electric hook up... oh wait a minute they have said that they might provide these facilities in the future..... WHAT?
Yet again Cairngorm should take note of what is happening at Glencoe there the electric hookups and camping pods are always busy (they built the facilities BEFORE charging people for them...) and therefore the cafe must also do a decent trade all year round.

How does someone decide if they have a car or a campervan? Is a Mazda Bongo or a VW Transporter a car? Obviously a massive Winnebago is a campervan: or is it? Looking at Cairngorm's parking terms and conditions they define a car as having less than 7 seats. Well that settles it: my campervan is actually a car so it will be £2 and not the rip off £8.

Actually forget the £2 as I'm off elsewhere

You'd have to ask the operator Ken. It'll just be the same kind of shambles that everyone has come to expect. An ill thought through scheme that will only bring yet more PR grief down on them. They moan about the negativity that comes their way in complete ignorance of the fact that they cause it all themselves.
All the carpark improvements could be easily done without imposing carparking charges. They just have to see sense and cancel the proposed artificial slope and commit the approx £1.5m to sorting it out. Customers might be more inclined to pay IF the carparks and environs were of a decent standard. Their idea is 'cart before horse'

Kind regards

Olderalan