With the recently announced support for Scottish skiing there is now a chance for us all to make those (sensible) suggestions for things that skiers and riders would like to see. I know some of the ski areas managements are actually interested in what their customers think, so come on, let them know what you want !

I'll start by what I'd like to see at Glencoe. I'd have an up and over chair that started below and to the east of the top of the access chair, went up to the top of the plateau, still east of the plateau poma, and then down into the bowl behind. that would open up more easy runs on the eastern plateau and in the bowl over the back, plus give extended more challenging runs down below the flypaper and east ridge.

For Glenshee I'd put a 2 stage chair up from a new carpark at the Braemar side, half a mile or so below the current base area. This chair would go up towards the top of the Coire Fionn pomas, high enough up to allow you to traverse over into Coire Fionn to the bottom of the pomas. The mid station would be at the point where the snow normally lies to for most of the season. I expect that to be just below the steeper pitch at the bottom of the home run back to Tom Dhearg, but a little further over to the east. The chair would give an alternative access to Coire Fionn not reliant on snow cover on Sunnyside or Meall Odhar. It would also open up a wide area of intermediate slopes on the north west flank of Coire Fionn between the poma and Tom Dhearg and allow possibilities to ski north from the top of Sunnyside down to the road when snow coverage is good and catch a chair back up.

That one's high on my fantasy lift list - from right at the bottom where the Allt Coire Fionn meets the Allt a Garbh Choire, there's a flat bit where the burn meets the road that would be ideal for a car park, it would give a run of about 4km with 600m descent from Glas Maol. Preferably with massive snowmaking to keep the whole thing in good nick all season.

Not too much to ask surely?

If the Caenlochan isn't removed as part of the installation of the likely MO Chair, then one small improvement I'd like to see is an extension of the Beag by one or two pylons so you don't have to climb up to the Caenlochan.

The Coire Fionn chair would be an exciting project !
More down to earth, would be a methodical programme of lift refurbishment. A small permanent team that spent its time dismantling existing pylon arms and sending them off for shot blasting and galvanising. Some of the pylons could be removed and shot blasted in the car park and then sprayed, or possibly removed and dipped. The objective would be to improve reliability and add another 25 years to the existing lifts. Part of this might include purchasing some more second hand Pomas for spares.

The advantage would be that refurbishment is progressive, manageable and the spending and skills is largely kept in Scotland. The operators would benefit from less time spent on emergency maintenance and avoiding the substantial costs of replacement at the point of failure. The public would benefit from more reliable uplift and a better perception of well managed machinery. It would also help keep ticket prices competitive.

A low level lift approach up Centre Gully to the base of the Fionn and Glas Maol lifts has been talked about for yonks.

The problem is that though it would be the best option for linking direct into the heart of Coire Fionn from a lower base that road access would be more reliable to, but you would be splitting the base operations to a location where 2/3rds to 3/4s of your customers still can't get to when the Spittal side of the road is shut.

So unless we're talking about fantasy roads too, where the A93 is re-trunked and the Scottish Government funds a tunnel under the Cairnwell Pass, sadly this is one scheme that is probably never going to get off the drawing board (but I believe it has reached the drawing board in the past)!

I don't understand what the issue with base facilities is. You don't have to have anything there other than a lift station. Car park would be nice as would a ticket office. Remember, people can get there on skis from the existing base if there's enough snow over the back of Sunnyside. If there's a problem with snow on the roads they can't get anywhere no matter where the lifts are, unless we're talking about a chair from the old Devil's Elbow up to Meal Odhar where the snow melts quickly off the south west facing slope....

Going back to Glencoe, It would be nice if the Cliffy could be extended by a pylon to the other side of the High Road so that users could head straight down the High Road or down to the Summit T-bar.

Also of use would be a surface lift from the bottom of Etive Glades to at least the bottom of the Wall T-Bar. This would prevent a long traverse or walk at the bottom of Etive Glades which could then head into the large bowl to the West of the Cafe.

Nevis...I'd have some sort of lift between Rob Roy and Braveheart. Something you could ski down to from the top of either so you could use it to access Braveheart without dropping in from the top and you could also use to get back out again without the long traverse & push.

Quote:
If there's a problem with snow on the roads they can't get anywhere no matter where the lifts are, unless we're talking about a chair from the old Devil's Elbow up to Meal Odhar where the snow melts quickly off the south west facing slope....

That basically is the problem in a nutshell with the viability of such a project, a lift up Centre Gully doesn't increase the chances of access for the majority of customers, but would be preferable option from a practical point of view if you wanted a lower level access point. It's relatively sheltered and fairly low level up a gully, so not much visual impact away from the A93 and existing developed area either.

On the other hand a lift up the Devils Elbow side that might be accessible when the slide is blocked, but it's hugely exposed, isn't good for snow holding and would have to dump people in the middle valley or be ridiculously exposed. It would also likely be a red rag to a bull to many because it would be very visually prominent from a fairly wide area!

If the population and customer flow was predominantly to the North of the Cairnwell Pass rather than the South I expect we'd already have lower level access from the road up into Coire Fionn.

Perhaps a little unrealistic but ive always thought a new car park at the bottom of the devils elbow with a chair going up towards Glas Moal. The valley there has always seemed very appealing for skiing. A couple of chairs in there would create transform GS... And mean it can open when the road is blocked...
Ive heard it was talked about prior to Nevis Ranges construction?

But seeing as that would need sevral millions, new pistes, and a lot more snow its not all that liklely, not to mention the planning objections...

But alas we can dream....

The other problem is that if the A93 is blocked the problems often start way before the last long slope up, so you can't get within miles of the slopes. Oh, and there's the Ghlas Maol nature reserve which extends south & east from Meall Odhar ... No development in there !-

This a thousand times. There are dozens of these sorts of lift arrangements in the Alps. That is a chair with a car park of the side of the road that gives access to an area and has zero or limited facilities.

I would also add in 2015 a hands free lift pass that can be recharged with a smart phone fixes a whole bunch of the split base issues to begin with, namely the purchase of lift passes.

If you add more parking by doing any of the above you would need to vastly improve capacity all over the ski area. The current parking capacity is at present 'just right' for days when everything is open. Most seasons these fantasy lifts wouldn't provide any additional runs so all additional load would go straight onto the existing network.

Nice ideas but the current arrangement of upgrading core lifts has to be the priority. Then one day...

About a Coire Fionn chair..


In deepest darkest winter, as Maf says, access can be limited well below 500m.

On a normal mid-winter day, it would distribute skiers from the North further into the area earlier in the day.

In spring conditions, when Sunnyside is shut but Glas Maol still covered, it's not going to be a burden at all for those from the south to drive the extra couple of miles over the top.