Aye there's that, I was just wondering if the Glenshee touring pass brouhaha last year might have got someone at CG stood in front of a 'how do we make any money now' whiteboard stroking their chin.

As someone who has worked in the legal sector for some years now, "independent experts reports" are virtually always changed by the person instructing them and by extension paying them.

I predict another hatchet job but maybe I'm just being cynical due to Cairngorms previous strategic decisions.


Separate note: £1 million ehh. I forget, how much was it to reinstate the coire ciste chairlifts again. Hmmmm.

blockquote]awrightski Wrote: alan Wrote: Separate note: £1 million ehh. I forget, how much was it to reinstate the coire ciste chairlifts again. Hmmmm.

Hmm... There was a blog post on parkswatch earlier regarding the maintenance of the surface lifts at Cairngorm and then pffft, it disappeared. It’s a full time job just keeping up at the moment.

Neil

Apologies if already posted but more national press coverage:

BBC News - Cairngorms funicular could remain shut for ski season
[www.bbc.co.uk]


On HIE's investment in snowmaking equipment, Prof Crerar said: "This investment means that, even if the worst case scenario comes to pass and the funicular is out of action for the season, we can still look forward to a season of winter sports at Cairngorm, just as in any other year.

"Any other year" ok mate



Edited 1 times. Last edit at 20.58hrs Thu 1 Nov 18 by awrightski.

Cairngorm Mountain
@CairngormMtn
Aviemore and the surrounding Cairngorms National Park is home to 25% of Britain's threatened species.

Come and visit the mountain to be in with a chance of witnessing some fantastic wildlife displays (from friendly... [www.facebook.com] …

Oct 18, 2018
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Just saw the above tweet. Does that 25% include local skiers and boarders?

:-)

I heard a representative from HIE on the BBC Scotland news on Wednesday afternoon.
How many times did she say "open for business"?
Didn't mention the parking charges and when asked about the funicular basically said "We have top men working on it" and when pushed reiterated "TOP MEN!".
Could not give any time scale and tried to bullshit about it being "very technical" which it isn't. It was just never done properly because it would have cost more and required real planning and oversight. Typical of short sighted management who can see no further than this years balance sheet. Very common in construction and infrastructure. Save a penny now, spend a pound later.
Transparent attempt to give the idea its business as usual and the snow making facilities they have (?) would solve all the problems relating to this season.

Does anyone know if the 2017 and 2018 annual structural survey reports have been released under the FOI requests?

The 2016 report made for an interesting read...

It would be interesting to know if NR/CML and or HIE have qualified structural/mechanical/civil engineers to interpret these reports, specify repairs and then supervise and sign off on the repairs. Also, the maintenance / inspection strategy should have been changed to account for the degrading structure clearly identified in 2016.


I am surprised how little in-house technical knowledge HIE has....they appear to get in consultants for just about everything. As owners of a complex facility (Cairngorm) they should have a lot of knowledge in-house. Consultants never tell you what to do, they only make recommendations.....

Details coming here soon, apparently...

[www.winterhighland.info]

Cheers, Geoff

Couple of articles about Cairngorm on The Herald website today -


[www.heraldscotland.com]


[www.heraldscotland.com]

A community buyout sounds like a very sensible solution to me. It would need good leadership but it might well enable the people who really care and understand Cairngorm to finally have a say in it. It might enable a strong voluntary aspect which would allow skiers and boarders some investment of their time also .
I’ll l
Fingers crossed for a positive outcome. A not insubstantial part of the future of Scottish (and UK) snowsport and community managed assets is at stake.

Great! I'll throw a few quid at it.

Would the hydro schemes, an 'alpine coaster' or even the MTB trails proposed not be tied up in red tape/environmental impact assessments forever with the CNPA?

Yes, but you can blame the consultants for making bad recommendations when things go wrong and take credit for yourself when things go right. It's not that HIE don't have in house expertise, they just want to make sure they have scapegoats lined up for all eventualities.

Make sure it's a real buy out and get the land!