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PeterS


Posts: 980
Joined: Feb 2003
Last Visited: 12:21
13th Mar 2021
What's this?What's this?What's this?
Re: Glenshee Summer 2015 Improvements
Date Posted: 07.00hrs on Sat 25 Jul 15
Jabuzzard your strategy of replacing tows with chairlifts will not work in Scotlands climate. It would be a very expensive way to trade resilience for fashion and (dubious) comfort.

The skiing public may not want to sit around waiting for the perfect day which in a windy year may never arrive, particularly if they have to pay a lot more for it and it is going to be crowded when they get there.

The very carefully considered approach of Glencoe and Glenshee is building loyalty from a new generation. Just read their Facebook comments.
Bonacola


Posts: 5
Joined: Aug 2014
Last Visited: 11:41
19th Feb 2021
Re: Glenshee Summer 2015 Improvements
Date Posted: 11.42hrs on Sun 26 Jul 15
Video of the first Tiger Chairlift pylon coming down. Report from Bella - lifetime member of Aberdeen Snowsports Club.
[youtu.be]
mlsgraham


Posts: 141
Joined: Mar 2008
Last Visited: 03:07
24th Jun 2016
Re: Glenshee Summer 2015 Improvements
Date Posted: 17.58hrs on Tue 28 Jul 15
remote_patrol Wrote:
jabuzzard Wrote:
keep the plebs and snowboards away


based purely my experience (as a boarder at the plebbier end of the spectrum!) and from speaking to some of the many "tourists" that have appeared at glenshee now cairngorm's unequivocally jumped the shark, i think the lack of this type of attitude in scotland attracts as many people as the wind puts off

also have a distinct memory of just about getting blown over in a massive queue on a day with vis so bad i couldn't see my own feet! so i'm afraid to say i'll have to call bullshit on your theory (as plausible as it seems).

that said, chairs everywhere would be awesome, but failing that, can we keep the pomas around, after a days boarding on tbars it feels like you've been booted in the nads by a t-rex.


Agreed on the Poma's. What is it about the bloody T-bars that make it so sore for boarders??
Andy28


Posts: 887
Joined: Mar 2007
Last Visited: 22:01
9th Mar 2021
What's this?
Re: Glenshee Summer 2015 Improvements
Date Posted: 19.03hrs on Tue 28 Jul 15
mlsgraham Wrote:
remote_patrol Wrote:
jabuzzard Wrote:
keep the plebs and snowboards away


based purely my experience (as a boarder at the plebbier end of the spectrum!) and from speaking to some of the many "tourists" that have appeared at glenshee now cairngorm's unequivocally jumped the shark, i think the lack of this type of attitude in scotland attracts as many people as the wind puts off

also have a distinct memory of just about getting blown over in a massive queue on a day with vis so bad i couldn't see my own feet! so i'm afraid to say i'll have to call bullshit on your theory (as plausible as it seems).

that said, chairs everywhere would be awesome, but failing that, can we keep the pomas around, after a days boarding on tbars it feels like you've been booted in the nads by a t-rex.

Agreed on the Poma's. What is it about the bloody T-bars that make it so sore for boarders??


double up, stand opposite side of t bar that you expect, and put the t bar behind your back leg.

not sore at all smiling smiley
jabuzzard


Posts: 885
Joined: Jan 2010
Last Visited: 11:02
16th Apr 2021
Re: Glenshee Summer 2015 Improvements
Date Posted: 17.12hrs on Thu 30 Jul 15
PeterS Wrote:
Jabuzzard your strategy of replacing tows with chairlifts will not work in Scotlands climate. It would be a very expensive way to trade resilience for fashion and (dubious) comfort.

The skiing public may not want to sit around waiting for the perfect day which in a windy year may never arrive, particularly if they have to pay a lot more for it and it is going to be crowded when they get there.

The very carefully considered approach of Glencoe and Glenshee is building loyalty from a new generation. Just read their Facebook comments.


All I have said is that the traditional approach in Scotland has been surface lifts, and that this approach is now out of line with the expectations of the majority of the skiing public that have become accustomed to sit down lifts on the continent. In light of this change of customer expectations I believe that it would be a mistake to just replace the existing and often past it surface lifts with more surface lifts.

I also don't believe for one minute that all the surface lifts installed in the past where done so because of considerations of wind. Thirty years ago the mix of surface and sit down lifts in Scotland was similar to that on the continent. In interval the lift mix on the continent has changed radically, while that in Scotland has remained pretty much the same. Also over that time the cost of a holiday on the continent has dropped in real terms and the number of "skier" days has also dropped. I know plenty of people who could but don't ski in Scotland because it is all surface lifts. I can only see this percentage growing and worry that this will have a long term detrimental impact on the viability of Scottish skiing.

I repeat I don't care either way, but I do understand that I am not representative of the average skier.
jabuzzard


Posts: 885
Joined: Jan 2010
Last Visited: 11:02
16th Apr 2021
Re: Glenshee Summer 2015 Improvements
Date Posted: 17.16hrs on Thu 30 Jul 15
Andy28 Wrote:
jabuzzard Wrote: If you could get more people on the hills in the course of a season by having more chairs, but where open fewer days that would most likely mean higher profits. At the end of the day it is not how many days the centre was open but did it operate at a profit that matters.

one fault with this is, how is the ski centre supposed to attract staff where they could end up with only 2-3 days work a week instead of 3-4.


One presumes that they are not using "zero day contracts", and any business that has their long term plans centred around using zero day contracts is likely to come unstuck in the future when it is highly likely that the UK government will make moves to restrict there use.
jabuzzard


Posts: 885
Joined: Jan 2010
Last Visited: 11:02
16th Apr 2021
Re: Glenshee Summer 2015 Improvements
Date Posted: 17.18hrs on Thu 30 Jul 15
remote_patrol Wrote:
sed purely my experience (as a boarder at the plebbier end of the spectrum!)


In this context a "pleb" was meant to indicate someone who was not an expert skier. As such an expert skier who was a poor as a church mouse would not be a pleb.

sredna100


Posts: 571
Joined: Jan 2008
Re: Glenshee Summer 2015 Improvements
Date Posted: 21.58hrs on Fri 31 Jul 15
This seems to have developed into bitching session about chairs versus drags, for me chairlifts in Scotland are the most horrible places to be as you tend to be sitting up taking just about everything the cruellest skiing weather in the world can throw at you for most of the time.

When you get to the top you get off like a frozen snotter if your not frozen to the chair itself or overcome with hyperthermia and just keep going round.

Usually takes me a few runs hard skiing to get warm again after this ordeal so if there is a surface alternative it is always the preference particularly on an average winters day.

That said in Europe give me a high speed chair anytime as the weather is much kinder , you get more skiing and they shift 6/8 punters a go . ..... but in Scotland its gotta be on the ground where your much more sheltered , for me its the way it has to be simply because I don't like being frozen.... I am supposed to be enjoying myself.. not being miserable !
growwild


Posts: 3550
Joined: Oct 2005
Re: Glenshee Summer 2015 Improvements
Date Posted: 23.05hrs on Fri 31 Jul 15
Grumpy auld gits.

Someone should invent some variable burning fag papers for Scottish chairs..


oversteer


Posts: 242
Joined: Jan 2008
Last Visited: 19:01
11th Mar 2024
Re: Glenshee Summer 2015 Improvements
Date Posted: 10.06hrs on Sat 1 Aug 15
I've criticised Glenshee for several years. Their strategy appeared to be "toys for the boys" and a wee bit o fencing if there's any cash left.

Finally, the penny seems to have dropped that uplift is critical to their survival. Whilst the murder of Meall Odhar TBar remains unforgivable for many reasons, I believe they have now stopped their removal programme.

The new Tiger Chair is a significant step in the right direction. They need to replace almost every lift in the next 20 years and at one lift a year, they'll just hit that target.

The recent work on Caenloachan is years overdue but credit to them for doing it. It seems they are again replacing some of the rotten pylons on Sunnyside Poma(s) too.

The combination of repair and replacement is exactly what the doctor ordered. And I salute them unreservedly.

On the Chair versus drag lift, I'm pretty sure they'll leave both Caenlochan Poma and Meall Odhar Poma when the "squint" chair goes in. I'd expect them to run the Chair only unless demand or wind forces the pomas to run. This will then allow them to focus on the replacement of Carn Aosda.

If you imagine in three years time we should have, a new Tiger, a new Meall Odhar Chair, the newest sector is Glas Maol and Coire Fionn. The immediate pressure on infrastructre would be reduced to Carn Aosda and then return access up Tom Dearg/Cluny

Tiger Chair - Replaced
Claybokie - Recently overhauled - new pylons
Cairnwell TBar - Needs replaced but low priority as low volume and isn't a link
Butcharts Bar - Covered by Butcharts Access and Carn Aosda - very low priority
Butcharts Access - Reasonable condition
Carn Aosda - Top priority for replacement as serves itself, the Access and the Coire.
Plastic Slope - Newish and rarely used
Dink Dink - Covered by rope tow
Rope Tow - New
Sunnyside Pomas - New base stations needed, ~50% refurbished pylons
Sunnyside Chair - Recently overhauled. Potential work needed on bases
Old Cluny - Rotten but covered by new and Tom Dearg
New Cluny - good condition
Tom Dearg - Slight risk as Courrour is decommissioned. Structural failure would create huge bottlenecks at weekend - especially if not enough snow for new Cluny.
Meall Odhar Poma - rotten but almost replaced by new chair
Caenlochan - As above
Beag Poma - reasonable condition
Coire Fionn (both) - Good condition
Glas Maol - Reasonable condition

If they can replace Carn Aosda, re-instate Courrour (perhaps using Tom Dearg and installing a Chair up Tom Dearg), replace Cairnwell TBar and replace the Old Cluny in the next 5/6 years - we'll have a resort that's set up for a couple of decades with correct maintenance.

The Meall Odhar and Caenlochan Pomas can refurbished or replaced as money and time allows because the Chair will do the business on most days.

Of course an end will never be reached, such is the climate, but I genuinely believe that things will be back in control by the summer of 2017.

I wish them nothing but luck.
PeterS


Posts: 980
Joined: Feb 2003
Last Visited: 12:21
13th Mar 2021
What's this?What's this?What's this?
Re: Glenshee Summer 2015 Improvements
Date Posted: 16.01hrs on Sat 1 Aug 15
Are they new pylons or just the old ones shot blasted and repainted or regalvanised ? I'd be surprised if they were beyond refurbishment ?





Edited 1 times. Last edit at 16.04hrs Sat 1 Aug 15 by PeterS.
Gorminator


Posts: 667
Joined: Jan 2011
Last Visited: 15:45
11th Aug 2019
Re: Glenshee Summer 2015 Improvements
Date Posted: 18.47hrs on Sat 1 Aug 15
Nice post Oversteer..and good to see the Shee progressing, and Glencoe too !

Meanwhile Cairngorm seems to be in-competently navigating it's way down the Pan.....ably helped by Natural Retreats...and viewed by all the Businesses in the Spey Valley !!
some frustrated skier


Posts: 236
Joined: Mar 2003
Last Visited: 21:55
16th Feb 2021
Re: Glenshee Summer 2015 Improvements
Date Posted: 21.58hrs on Sat 1 Aug 15
Gorminator Wrote:
Nice post Oversteer..and good to see the Shee progressing, and Glencoe too !

Meanwhile Cairngorm seems to be in-competently navigating it's way down the Pan.....ably helped by Natural Retreats...and viewed by all the Businesses in the Spey Valley !!


Hear hear.

Not just Natural Retreats causing the issue. That started a long time ago.

Remember Bob K and his core lift policy?
growwild


Posts: 3550
Joined: Oct 2005
Re: Glenshee Summer 2015 Improvements
Date Posted: 02.37hrs on Sun 2 Aug 15
The doc recommends high doses of Bedica for you 2...

Be good tae see the place* having accommodation built and some trees planted!!

*Glenshee, not the posh hillbilly hellhole of cairnboring......
remote_patrol


Posts: 1013
Joined: Apr 2007
Last Visited: 22:53
20th Apr 2021
Re: Glenshee Summer 2015 Improvements
Date Posted: 08.54hrs on Mon 3 Aug 15
Andy28 Wrote:

double up, stand opposite side of t bar that you expect, and put the t bar behind your back leg.

not sore at all


fair point the behind back leg thing does work to some extent (more slows down the pain for me than eliminates it though), but i find it kind of works it's way up and down with changes in gradient and screws up my balance through off camber bits (carn aosda....). it's only really an issue when spending all day riding them though smiling smiley

@jahbuzzard, sorry for the implied snobbery, I blame andrew mitchell smiling smiley
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