A campaign to renovate and restore two chairlifts at Cairngorm ski area in Scotland has been renewed by pressure group ‘Save the Ciste’ as the publicly owned and run ski area comes under private operation this month.
The Ciste and Westwall chairlifts were shut down in 2005 during a period of poor winters with resulting lower revenue for the ski area. CairnGorm Mountain’s ski area is made up of two halves: Coire Cas and Coire na Ciste.
While served by two chairlifts and two surface lifts, Coire na Ciste became a haven for intermediate, advanced and expert skiers and snowboarders, serving a unique variety of extensive natural terrain of the sort that is not available in Coire Cas.
The campaign to restore the lifts was first launched during the 2010 season when a good season was recorded. Subsequent generally good winters have meant that the rolling five year average skier day figure has climbed to over 104,000 per season, twice what the five year average was in 2007.
Campaign Mountain did put forward plans to partially re-open the area but these were shelved by the public operator, Highlands and islands enterprise, when it began a two year process to seek a new operator for the facilities on CairnGorm Mountain.
Natural Retreats UK Ltd have just taken private ownership of the operating company (CairnGorm Mountain Ltd) on Wednesday 11th June 2014.
“Natural Retreats have published a five year plan for redevelopment of facilities on CairnGorm, but it includes no provision for improving the inadequate snowsports uplift capacity. The five year plan therefore fails to address the major concerns of snowsport customers,” said a statement from Save the Ciste, “With Natural Retreats onboard, now is the time to renew the calls for Chairlift Reinstatement in Coire na Ciste.”
The group are urging supporters to sign an online petition which has so far gained 2,700 signatures.
