A long time ago there was a thread 'CML - are they interested?'

You might well ask the same question of Nevis Range today and all the evidence points to the answering being strongly no.

We are in the February half term.
Aonach Mor is higher than Meall a' Bhuiridh.
There is more snow on Aonach Mor than there is on Meall a' Bhuiridh.
The Upper Goose area is wider than the Main Basin by a large margin.

The area that could be accessed from the Quad Chair, upper Goose T-bar and Summit is more extensive than the open terrain at Glencoe and joins together better once you are up there.

But Nevis Range is closed and has been for some time, citing insufficient snow for snowsports.

If you look at the Goose uphill webcam (during daylight hours and clear visibility), look closely at the Goose T-bar. You will spot a Lifty hut by the T-bar, immediately below that hut is Tower 4.

For the entire duration of Nevis Range ski area until this January, Tower 4 had a swing arm that could be swung round, to lower the haul rope such that the T-bar could load at the aforementioned hut.

As you can see on the webcam, this is no longer there. It was lowered from the tower, and as we've been informed, cut up and scrapped.

The top of the Quad Chair is around 3020ft while the Tower 4 loading point sat around 2950ft, that is equivalent to about half way up Ski Tow Gully on the Main Basin T-bar at Glencoe.

Even the Top Basin uplift at CairnGorm does not reach the altitude of the Summit Button at Nevis. Yet we are in a situation where there is insufficient snow to operate snow sports solely because Nevis Range actively degraded their infrastructure in manor that reduces the likelihood of opening for snowsports.

By historical evidence this will have a pretty substantial negative impact in terms of days lift served snowsports is possible at Nevis Range. Along with the clever language used to hide behind an on the quiet reduction in the official ski patrol area when people asked would all uplift be available this season, no prior indication of this substantially negative operational change was given.

With some justification Nevis Range season pass holders must be feeling they were basically hoodwinked into parting with their cash.

The tower 4 'arm' still appears to be there on the webcam this morning.
If it is still there, why isn't the goose & summit open.
If it was removed, then that was a dumb move.

Either way... sadly, yes, I do believe that Nevis have given up on snowsports.

(They sold their hydro scheme to pay for a snowfactory - have they ever even used it?.....madness).

Hi there, you may have spoken too soon.
Watching the Goose web cam on Tuesday, I saw some people lifting something from the back of a pistebasher up on to one of the towers.
It is still visible on the webcam today.
We probably need more snow to use it !
Cheers John

Very dissapointing.
When I was there in the summer they seemed to have a massive brand new snow factory and a funky magis carpet. So why can't they offer sledging or snowports just now on man-made snow lower down (like the other centres are doing).
Also they should most definitely open up the upper goose and summit runs.
I would be be fuming if I had a season ticket.

A few season pass holders had been commenting on this for a bit and were being fobbed off, looks as if enough people now were on to it to force a change of heart. There were at one time 3 of these arms but not sure they all had suitable length to use for the Goose T-bar.

The T-bar was running for a bit this lunchtime and some patrollers / hill staff came down the Goose.

Now the question is does the uptrack make it through tonight and tomorrow morning? Seems rather mad to have thrown away the chance to operate during the peak week of half term?



Edited 2 times. Last edit at 13.00hrs Thu 16 Feb 23 by winterhighland.

Since the new MD took over at Nevis Range a few seasons ago, there has been a noticeable shift away from snowsports and a noticeable increase in 'commercial partnerships' that make no difference to the average punter.

He was being coy about the possibility of Warrens and Braveheart running this season, using it as the usual carrot to tempt everyone, even though they haven't done any form of maintenance on those lifts covid hit. It was only when he was called out by ex-staff on various facebook groups, who know that those lifts won't run again without significant investment in maintenance, that he finally admitted that they won't run this season.

I think it's unlikely we'll ever see them run again, as they've unofficially adopted a Cairngorm style 'core-lift' policy, that don't include those lifts, the Great Glen Chair, and the Rob Roy Tbar

They've also adopted the old Cairngorm mentality of 'we'll get things opened when we can' approach. Charging a full day ticket, but not having the Goose T-bar running until late-morning and the summit button running until after lunchtime somedays is a joke. If customers are paying one of the highest day ticket prices in Scotland, there is an expectation that those 'core-lifts' will be opened all day.

It's becoming abundantly clear that they've over stretched themselves with the new hotel, that is over budget and well over running its original schedule.

Last year they had a fixed date for closing, regardless of snow conditions, as they'd pencilled in their McAvalanche bike event. This year is the same. If winter ever gets its act together and we get a decent late season through April into May, it won't be at Nevis. They'll pull the plug at the start of April to transition to Mountain Biking regardless of conditions.

Nevis use to be top of my list when it came to Scottish resorts, but it is firmly at the bottom now.

nope only really interested in the downhill biking now! more sustainable sadly