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paulo


Posts: 129
Joined: Mar 2006
Last Visited: 21:31
16th Apr 2021
Re: Travel in Scottish Government 5 Tier Covid Framework
Date Posted: 21.08hrs on Mon 4 Jan 21
Today’s announcement might be a blessing in disguise... looks like the crowds at the Lecht were attracting media attention (not to mention being a transmission risk), and they were in danger of spoiling it for the other two. What happened to the idea of restricting numbers? This way there is at least some hope things might be allowed to open again when restrictions are relaxed ..?

alan


Posts: 10768
Joined: Nov 1994
Last Visited: 17:02
27th Mar 2024
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Re: Travel in Scottish Government 5 Tier Covid Framework
Date Posted: 21.55hrs on Mon 4 Jan 21
paulo Wrote:
Today’s announcement might be a blessing in disguise... looks like the crowds at the Lecht were attracting media attention (not to mention being a transmission risk), and they were in danger of spoiling it for the other two. What happened to the idea of restricting numbers? This way there is at least some hope things might be allowed to open again when restrictions are relaxed ..?


The story about Scottish Skiing and CairnGorm Mountain in various UK newspapers this morning was a bit weird, it's very unlikely they'd have mentioned Scottish Skiing unless they were spoon-fed a specific story.

The mention of ski areas specifically today was also odd, it stuck out like a sore thumb for something so niche and specific to be mentioned in such an announcement. The guidance with respect to snow sports has thus far been closely aligned to that with golf, and the R&A confirms that golf courses can remain open in Scotland under lockdown.

Indeed there appears to be nothing in law, in terms of the new statutory instruments - "2021 No. 1: The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Amendment (No. 10) Regulations 2021" - which exclude the snow sports areas from operating. Though there is now a general remain at home rule in the regulations, outdoor exercise and recreation remains an exemption and the travel restrictions remain as they are under the pre-existing level 4, namely:


undertake exercise or recreation—
(i) outdoors,
(ii) that starts and ends at the same place, which place must be—
(aa) in the local government area in which that person lives, or (bb) within 5 miles of such local government area





paulo


Posts: 129
Joined: Mar 2006
Last Visited: 21:31
16th Apr 2021
Re: Travel in Scottish Government 5 Tier Covid Framework
Date Posted: 22.32hrs on Mon 4 Jan 21
I hadn’t see anything about CairnGorm, but this was the story I was referring to
[www.bbc.co.uk]

Yes I was surprised it was specifically mentioned too. In any case pretty much impossible to justify continued operation when the stay-at-home guidance states “Travel no further than you need to reach to a safe, non-crowded place to exercise in a socially distanced way”



Edited 2 times. Last edit at 22.43hrs Mon 4 Jan 21 by paulo.

Tourer1


Guest
Re: Travel in Scottish Government 5 Tier Covid Framework
Date Posted: 22.48hrs on Mon 4 Jan 21
A friend sent me a photo from the Lecht today of the queue at the Eagle ski lift. Queue went all the way up towards the car park with no social distancing whatsoever - shoulder to shoulder all up the queue.
I read the bbc article with a staff member at the Lecht saying that since skis are at least 160cm long, social distancing isn't a problem. Well.. that's great, however looking at that Eagle photo, everybody's skis are side on to the hill, so they are all standing right next to each other...
Apparently the car park was full, all of the open lifts had a similar queue and lift tickets were being sold to anyone who had money - no proof of address was required.

Greed = shutdown.

alan


Posts: 10768
Joined: Nov 1994
Last Visited: 17:02
27th Mar 2024
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Re: Travel in Scottish Government 5 Tier Covid Framework
Date Posted: 22.51hrs on Mon 4 Jan 21
The ski areas now have staff on their books whom they can not furlough. Not good.

remote_patrol


Posts: 1013
Joined: Apr 2007
Last Visited: 22:53
20th Apr 2021
Re: Travel in Scottish Government 5 Tier Covid Framework
Date Posted: 08.28hrs on Tue 5 Jan 21
alan Wrote:
ML Wrote:
Do scottish resorts get any monetary support to survive two years of near full clossure?

Only if the company name contains the initials C L and M (and not necessarily in that order).


Maybe this will be a catalyst for a bit of rebalancing in that regard (we can dream eh?). If CML are determined to withdraw from all collective activities maybe the the other centres and ski scotland might be more inlcined to make a big deal of that publicly. Most of the general public i'm sure have no idea how screwed up and unbalanced the whole thing is.

otherwise i think we have to just suck this season up, seems clear snowports/hillwalking/climbing is against the spirit (if not the letter of the law) unless it's literally on your doorstep sad smiley

Dunc


Posts: 330
Joined: Nov 2004
Last Visited: 09:47
18th Mar 2021
Re: Travel in Scottish Government 5 Tier Covid Framework
Date Posted: 10.10hrs on Tue 5 Jan 21
The Lecht did not do a good job on Monday 4th Jan. They did not limit ticket sales, and both car parks were rammed. I understand that this is contrary to what they said they were going to do. Their lifts were also problematic and there was no 'main' uplift from the base lodge for quite a period of time.
Not limiting ticket sales led to bad press and photos showing loads of folk who may not have been socially distancing. The queues were the biggest I've ever seen at the Lecht (5 runs of the Buzzard in 2.5 hours were being reported). Also the Lecht made no attempt to verify where people were travelling from (regarding Covid travel rules). Customers paying 30 odd quid to mostly stand in queues IMHO did not represent good value.

In contrast, I went to Glenshee on Sunday 3rd Jan. Online booked in advance with the number of tickets capped to reflect Covid, and the lifts/terrain available. And also verification that only Aberdeenshire/P&K customers were there. It was really slick, well managed, and the queues were very minimal all day (max. 5 minutes on Bucharts Access, with 'ski straight on' for much of the time at the other lifts. In fact significantly smoother and less stressful than on a normal day, and way way more skiing time than at Lecht on Monday. Well done Glenshee.

I understand Glencoe has been equally as well managed as Glenshee with respect to Covid.

I really hope they all get a chance to re-open in Feb. I hope the Lecht might reflect on Monday and do things differently.




sspeirs


Posts: 370
Joined: Mar 2008
Last Visited: 09:59
22nd Apr 2021
Re: Travel in Scottish Government 5 Tier Covid Framework
Date Posted: 12.03hrs on Tue 5 Jan 21
Agree - the Lecht did not look good at all, and I only saw the webcams and BBC article. The people (skiers & boarders) at the Lecht didn't help either - they should have insisted on social distancing when in queues.

jabuzzard


Posts: 885
Joined: Jan 2010
Last Visited: 11:02
16th Apr 2021
Re: Travel in Scottish Government 5 Tier Covid Framework
Date Posted: 12.09hrs on Tue 5 Jan 21
alan Wrote:
The mention of ski areas specifically today was also odd, it stuck out like a sore thumb for something so niche and specific to be mentioned in such an announcement. The guidance with respect to snow sports has thus far been closely aligned to that with golf, and the R&A confirms that golf courses can remain open in Scotland under lockdown.

Indeed there appears to be nothing in law, in terms of the new statutory instruments - "2021 No. 1: The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Amendment (No. 10) Regulations 2021" - which exclude the snow sports areas from operating. Though there is now a general remain at home rule in the regulations, outdoor exercise and recreation remains an exemption and the travel restrictions remain as they are under the pre-existing level 4, namely:


undertake exercise or recreation—
(i) outdoors,
(ii) that starts and ends at the same place, which place must be—
(aa) in the local government area in which that person lives, or (bb) within 5 miles of such local government area



Organized sporting activities are banned. If you think that prepared slopes and mechanised lifts do not constitute organized sport then I have a slightly used bridge with a few snapped cables and brand new truss end links to sell you.

The Lecht need to reflect on what they allowed to happen over the weekend and Monday, publicly apologize rather than make feeble excuses. They also need to make sure that they do actually limit ticket sales and are not allowed to reopen till they show they have a prebooking system in place.

Ski centres where specifically mentioned due to the covidiocy of the Lecht.




Andy not logged


Guest
Re: Travel in Scottish Government 5 Tier Covid Framework
Date Posted: 17.00hrs on Tue 5 Jan 21
Golf courses are still open on prepared grass.

alan


Posts: 10768
Joined: Nov 1994
Last Visited: 17:02
27th Mar 2024
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Re: Travel in Scottish Government 5 Tier Covid Framework
Date Posted: 19.11hrs on Tue 5 Jan 21
jabuzzard Wrote:


Organized sporting activities are banned. If you think that prepared slopes and mechanised lifts do not constitute organized sport then I have a slightly used bridge with a few snapped cables and brand new truss end links to sell you.



As confirmed by Sport Scotland and the Scottish Government on several occasions, for the purposes of said regulations, lift served snowsports (like golf) is not ‘organised’ and uplift is permitted up to and including Level 4 restrictions.

Indeed in written guidance this morning it has been confirmed that actually the ski areas were permitted to remain open until the end of the week’. Last nights statutory instrument tightened level 4 restrictions such as replacing the 6/2 outdoor meeting rule with a 2/2 one. Presumably a new set of regulations will come out taking effect on Friday.

Dry ski slopes are permitted to remain open in lockdown, the idea of closing down the mountain ski areas as the only change to outdoor sports facilities permitted to operate was no doubt cooked up in Inverness.

jabuzzard


Posts: 885
Joined: Jan 2010
Last Visited: 11:02
16th Apr 2021
Re: Travel in Scottish Government 5 Tier Covid Framework
Date Posted: 20.24hrs on Tue 5 Jan 21
alan Wrote:
jabuzzard Wrote:


Organized sporting activities are banned. If you think that prepared slopes and mechanised lifts do not constitute organized sport then I have a slightly used bridge with a few snapped cables and brand new truss end links to sell you.



As confirmed by Sport Scotland and the Scottish Government on several occasions, for the purposes of said regulations, lift served snowsports (like golf) is not ‘organised’ and uplift is permitted up to and including Level 4 restrictions.

Indeed in written guidance this morning it has been confirmed that actually the ski areas were permitted to remain open until the end of the week’. Last nights statutory instrument tightened level 4 restrictions such as replacing the 6/2 outdoor meeting rule with a 2/2 one. Presumably a new set of regulations will come out taking effect on Friday.

Dry ski slopes are permitted to remain open in lockdown, the idea of closing down the mountain ski areas as the only change to outdoor sports facilities permitted to operate was no doubt cooked up in Inverness.


You need to stop looking for loop holes in the rules.

The Lecht where utterly irresponsible and need to publicly appologize for their covidiocy .


Jim61


Posts: 9
Joined: Sep 2014
Last Visited: 14:38
26th Sep 2023
Re: Travel in Scottish Government 5 Tier Covid Framework
Date Posted: 21.08hrs on Tue 5 Jan 21
alan Wrote:
Alan Wrote:

Dry ski slopes are permitted to remain open in lockdown, the idea of closing down the mountain ski areas as the only change to outdoor sports facilities permitted to operate was no doubt cooked up in Inverness.


Who in Inverness would be doing the cooking and would they really have the clout to influence Madame President Elect Sturgeon


growwild


Posts: 3550
Joined: Oct 2005
Re: Travel in Scottish Government 5 Tier Covid Framework
Date Posted: 21.56hrs on Tue 5 Jan 21
I doubt HIE if that's what implied had anything tae do with it, more so open eyes and the police and probably the Oxford Dictionary had a word to save them having to re define the meaning of local and essential cause of some greedy untrustworthy fckwits delusions..

Cambeltoon and Thurso is local to Glencoe ??????

Nevis were the only ones that called it right, dunno what was going on at the Lecht but those that stayed open for those that were far fae 'local' brought this on themselves, so no sympathy and I'm guessing the attitudes will affect public funding in the future..

No different to the rest of the dicks that flout rules and push boundaries keeping us all in jail.

Also, there ain't only five golf courses in Scotland. I've at least 5 LOCAL ones within 5 miles if I was to turn tadger and wanted to waste a walk...

[www.grough.co.uk]# Why did the dibble pick on these two when they could pulled in more coin just up the road?





Edited 2 times. Last edit at 22.05hrs Tue 5 Jan 21 by growwild.

Suilven


Posts: 52
Joined: Feb 2010
Last Visited: 17:50
10th Feb 2021
Re: Travel in Scottish Government 5 Tier Covid Framework
Date Posted: 22.02hrs on Tue 5 Jan 21
alan Wrote:

Dry ski slopes are permitted to remain open in lockdown


They may be permitted to open in whatever level we are in now (they certainly were permitted in preceding Level 4), but in practice they have now all closed

Bearsden & Bellahouston (closed last night)
Hillend (before Xmas)
Polmonthill (before Xmas)
Tillicoultry, Garthdee, Alford, Huntly, Lagganlia, Loch Insh all closed

Haven't been able to confirm Newmilns or Arbroath but I doubt it somehow


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