Dunc Wrote:
Could someone please remind me why replacing the Cairnwell t-bar with a quad chair is a good idea.....or rather, why it is a better idea than putting it up Butcharts/Cairn Aosda or over Meall Odhar. Thanks.
Replacing Carn Aosda would be quite appealing, presumably that would then become the lift of choice over the Access Poma so there would always be direct access to the Carn Aosda Reds as well as Butchart's and the Poma blue run.
The but though is that a chair here is likely to have more closed days than on the Cairnwell T-bar line as the topography of this side means its significantly more exposed. The runs off a Carn Aosda Chair would all be South facing, but off a replacement for the Cairnwell T-bar on balance the snow catching and holding properties are better and it's not unknown for the outer RaceTrack to hold onto snow beyond the T-bar track.
Another factor is the Bunny Run which would be opened up as an easily accessible long, but fairly gentle winding green and it's also probably the more likely option for providing access to Butchart's T-bar in lean snow conditions.
More access to more terrain with the quad replacing the Cairnwell T-bar, while the Carn Aosda side already has 3 functioning lifts.
With regards Meall Odhar, I'm inclined to think the entire middle valley needs a rethink and firstly I'd go for a chair from just fractionally below Tom Dearg to one of the mounds just above the Meall Odhar Cafe.
This would serve to distribute people around the lifts at the middle rather than at the moment a very large number arriving at Tom Dearg with nowhere else to go. Some snow making and drainage works here would make a good very sheltered early intermediate run of the chair itself. It would allow the Home Run and Northern ridge of Meall Odhar to be much more easily skied for fun rather than just a way out of Coire Fionn at the end of the day, as it's pretty convoluted to get back to the top of the Caenlocahn at present.
A decent chair line without being too high might require removal of the Cluny Pomas, in which case move the best bits to Tom Dearg to make one Poma to double up Tom Dearg. If the Chair ended in a suitable place it would be possible to fence a travesere to the South end of the carpark which would take a bit of strain of Tom Dearg on the mental busy days.