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alan


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Media Thread
Date Posted: 11.20hrs on Fri 18 Nov 05
If you find any media reports regarding Scottish Snowsports, whether online newspapers, online news sites or audio/video clips online please post a description and links here.

If you have any such items recorded from news programs etc and you can't find them online, please contact us with the details and we will endevour to either find an online version, or seek permission to the items on this web archive.

alan


Posts: 10768
Joined: Nov 1994
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Re: Media Thread
Date Posted: 10.05hrs on Tue 6 Dec 05
It's the white stuff to save our slopes

MURDO MACLEOD
IN GLENSHEE
mmacleod@scotlandonsunday.com

SCOTLAND'S beleaguered skiing industry is planning a huge marketing drive in an effort to capitalise on early snowfalls and predictions of a bitter winter to come.

Full article: [scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com]
alan


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Re: Media Thread
Date Posted: 14.18hrs on Mon 2 Jan 06
BBC News broadband video copy of News Item from CairnGorm Mountain during Novembers Snow:

[news.bbc.co.uk]

SussexSnow


Posts: 406
Joined: Sep 2003
Last Visited: 06:43
18th Apr 2019
Re: Media Thread
Date Posted: 16.19hrs on Fri 10 Mar 06
Daily Telegraph
6th March 2006

[www.telegraph.co.uk]

Ski Sunday as snow blankets Scotland
By Emily Twinch and Henry Samuel
(Filed: 06/03/2006)

Skiers took to the Scottish slopes in their thousands at the weekend after a heavy fall of snow.

Resorts that have been closed since last winter because of a lack of good snow re-opened as skiers flocked to the slopes.

Peter Dupon, from Lecht ski centre in Aberdeenshire, said: "It has been fantastic. This fall should keep us going for a while. This weekend we have been three quarters full, but before we had no one.

"But a week doesn't make a season - we need to have more to keep going until Easter."

The centre has been forced to make cuts to survive, including making staff redundant.

On the Continent, too much snow has fallen in the traditional Alpine resorts. Villages in France, Switzerland and Germany saw thousands of motorists stranded overnight.

Roads to several ski resorts in south-west Switzerland and eastern France were closed because of avalanche warnings. About 2,600 people were forced to stay in emergency accommodation in the French Alps at Bourg-Saint-Maurice on

Saturday night. Ten people died in southern Germany in snow-related accidents and the state of Hessen had its heaviest falls for 15 years. There were 19 inches of snow in Munich.

A spokesman for the Met Office said: "The snow showers are going to continue in the north of Scotland for the next 24 hours but it will ease off in the west."

Scottish police said drifting snow had created travel problems, with Banff and Buchan badly affected. Insp Gordon Nicoll, of Grampian Police, said: "The road conditions are posing a high risk to motorists, who should seriously consider whether they need to be going out."

The only part of Scotland without snow is Glen Etive and Glencoe, where the latest Harry Potter movie is being made. Warner Brothers have chosen Fort William and the nearby glens as a preferred area for Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix and snow-capped mountains are vital for the opening sequence.

SussexSnow


Posts: 406
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18th Apr 2019
Re: Media Thread
Date Posted: 09.47hrs on Mon 20 Mar 06
Highland ski resorts give thanks for late snowfall in fight to survive
By Auslan Cramb, Scottish Correspondent
(Filed: 20/03/2006)

[www.telegraph.co.uk]

The rest of Britain may be hoping for the first signs of spring but there were no complaints about the cold weather from thousands of skiers in Scotland's mountain resorts.


After a poor start to the season, the five ski centres are making the most of a late snowfall that has produced near-perfect conditions.

When the snow failed to arrive in time for the financially important half-term break in February, the season could have turned into one of the worst for a decade.

Now all the resorts are operating at close to full capacity, with skiers and boarders travelling from all over Britain.

In recent years, the brown slopes have become a barometer of global warming and the centres have had to diversify in the fight to survive.

Nevis Range, above Fort William, developed mountain biking and at CairnGorm, above Aviemore, a funicular railway provides income throughout the year. But without the recent snowfall CairnGorm would have struggled to break even.

"We were beginning to panic," said Fiona Milligan, the marketing executive for CairnGorm Mountain Ltd.

"Now things have picked up marvellously. Another couple of good weekends and we will reach our targets."

The resort needs 45,500 skiers to break even, around half the average number on the slopes in the 1970s and 1980s.

"Last year we had eight weeks in total," Miss Milligan said. "If we get six this year we will be happy."

This winter is proof that there is still an appetite for Scottish skiing. Last week about 500 skiers visited CairnGorm each day and this weekend more than 3,000 were on the mountain.

Joan and Alden Henderson, who introduced their daughters to skiing in Canada last year, took eight hours door to door to reach the slopes from their home in Belfast.

"We set out when we heard there was enough snow," Mr Henderson said. "We originally planned to come in mid-December but the conditions were not good enough.

"I don't think you can book a Scottish ski holiday in advance but it works if you can travel when the conditions are right."

Greg Louis Richard, 21, who works in the ski hire department, is still talking about the "amazing powder" two weeks ago.

"I have snowboarded in France, Switzerland and Bulgaria but the powder here was better than anything I have experienced. It was fantastic."

Les McLaren, 54, from Glasgow, a season ticket holder for 30 years, has skied every winter and has noted the climate change.

"Thirty years ago the skiing in May was pretty reliable," he said, "but now it has disappeared completely. The weather has become very unpredictable. In the past 10 years we have had the usual amount of snow falling but as soon as it falls it melts.

"I would not tell someone to travel a long distance just to ski in Scotland but if they are coming anyway they should bring their skis. I have skied in lots of resorts in Europe and the skiing here can be as good as anywhere. It can also be pretty grim.

"I think there is some truth in the saying that if you learn to ski in Scotland, where sometimes the runs are narrow and you have to avoid the rocks, then you can ski anywhere."

Bob Kinnaird, the chief executive of the ski company, said he had his fingers crossed that there would be snow at Easter.

"If we have skiing at Easter, it will make up for the loss of the February break," he said. "But it would not make it a good season; just a survivable one."

roga


Posts: 1123
Joined: Feb 2006
Re: Media Thread
Date Posted: 12.08hrs on Tue 21 Mar 06
(I hope this is appropriate here, sorry if it isn't)

Interesting article - it really does seem to be hand to mouth stuff:

"If we have skiing at Easter, it will make up for the loss of the February break," he said. "But it would not make it a good season; just a survivable one."

All the same, it has to be said that if the pattern continues there is going to be a winter when there's very little snow and little or no snowsports at all if they're reliant on what cokmes from the clouds. I guess this means ng that it won't be a "survivable one". Does that mean CML and/or someone else will go under?

Bob Kinnerad has been asked about the viability of snowmaking a number of times on here and *always* fails to answer in every thread I've seen - does CML expect a bailout from public money when the snows fail? If CML want to guarantee winter income they had better stop doing a very good impression of the (now deceased) UK car industry and start thinking about how to *actively* create a viable future for snowsports, that means, in corporate terms, you invest to guarantee the quality of your product and ultimately make more money. At the very least they could at least start looking into the viability and costs of a *modern* snowmaking system or tell us why they don't see it as an option.

Here I am thinking about popping over to Les Deux Alpes (or somewhere close) at Easter because I want to take my six year old daughter skiing on snow for her first time (only been on plastic poor thing). After being up the Gorm a few weeks ago I wasn't happy at the prospect of standing with a young child in the cold/rain/whiteout, or whatever the weather may bring, waiting in a long gueue for a bus from the now chairliftless Cas to the Ciste, nor am I happy with the prospect of not getting up the hill at all because the Glenmore snow gates are closed - ever tried explaining that sort of thing to a small child?! So, I decided to go abroad - guaranteed uplift, guaranteed snow (it's high and there's a glacier for goodness sake) and... wait for it... a massive snowmaking system which in most instances they probably don't even need! I call that investing and planning *properly* for the future!

I won't even start on the Australian experience, where there are rather more direct parallels, as CML may well be aware!
alan


Posts: 10768
Joined: Nov 1994
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27th Mar 2024
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Re: Media Thread
Date Posted: 02.23hrs on Wed 22 Mar 06
It would seem from this article that the convo I had that lead to the Endgame thread perhaps wasn't far off the mark, however perhaps the most important thing to come out of this season, is that it is now looking as if CML can't survive as a tourist attraction, only with snowsports and the much higher per customer spend can enable a viable business that can operate 12months of the year.

For all skiers and boarders, that can only be a good thing, and perhaps CML will need to consider that it needs to maintain capacity to bring the cash in when the going is good.
roga


Posts: 1123
Joined: Feb 2006
Re: Media Thread
Date Posted: 13.56hrs on Wed 22 Mar 06
alan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It would seem from this article that the convo I
> had that lead to the Endgame thread perhaps wasn't
> far off the mark,

Yes, I was surprised at how 'candid' Bob Clyde was in his reported remarks in the article. Especially surprised given his generally steady as she goes type remarks here, at least that's how I interpreted them. Mind you, I guess I'm presuming he's being quoted correctly which is perhaps a little naive on my part, LOL!

> however perhaps the most
> important thing to come out of this season, is
> that it is now looking as if CML can't survive as
> a tourist attraction, only with snowsports and the
> much higher per customer spend can enable a viable
> business that can operate 12months of the year.

I totally agree.

> For all skiers and boarders, that can only be a
> good thing, and perhaps CML will need to consider
> that it needs to maintain capacity to bring the
> cash in when the going is good.

Certainly given various complaints/criticisms here and elsewhere I hope they do come to that conclusion - let's hope this has been a wake up call but I wonder if leopards change their spots so easily!
SussexSnow


Posts: 406
Joined: Sep 2003
Last Visited: 06:43
18th Apr 2019
Re: Media Thread
Date Posted: 09.56hrs on Thu 23 Mar 06
ROGA

Re: comments about talking your daughter to Cairngorm. I've got a 3.5 year old. As we are expecting No.2 we couldn't all traipse up to Scotland to give her her first taste of true snow. However, on my recent road trip I was sussing out the resorts for kid-friendly. Here are my thoughts

1. Cairngorm. Funicular would be fun for a kid and allows access right to the top. I guess the ptarmigan basin would have the snow. Nice that it the restaurant is right next to it. Good place to retreat too to warm up or for depositing mum and No.2 by the log fire (esp. if they ban the smoking

2. Nevis Range. Again, the restaurant looks good for breaks. But I noticed they had a wooden swing park next too it. Perfect! A chance to play if she needs a break from the skiing. So three things to do, ski,food, swings.

3. Glencoe. Access chair a bit much for the wee-ones. Roll on the Glencoe Funitel expressbahn to the top with intermediate stop in the middle!

Cheers


roga


Posts: 1123
Joined: Feb 2006
Re: Media Thread
Date Posted: 11.47hrs on Thu 23 Mar 06
SussexSnow Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ROGA
>
> Re: comments about talking your daughter to
> Cairngorm. I've got a 3.5 year old. As we are
> expecting No.2

Congrats, you won't know what's hit you but it's great! grinning smiley

> we couldn't all traipse up to
> Scotland to give her her first taste of true snow.
> However, on my recent road trip I was sussing out
> the resorts for kid-friendly. Here are my
> thoughts
>
> 1. Cairngorm. Funicular would be fun for a kid and
> allows access right to the top. I guess the
> ptarmigan basin would have the snow. Nice that it
> the restaurant is right next to it. Good place to
> retreat too to warm up or for depositing mum and
> No.2 by the log fire (esp. if they ban the
> smoking

Yes, once up on the mountain it could be good, I totally agree.

> 2. Nevis Range. Again, the restaurant looks good
> for breaks. But I noticed they had a wooden swing
> park next too it. Perfect! A chance to play if she
> needs a break from the skiing. So three things to
> do, ski,food, swings.

She'd love that smiling smiley

> 3. Glencoe. Access chair a bit much for the
> wee-ones. Roll on the Glencoe Funitel expressbahn
> to the top with intermediate stop in the middle!

I think The Lecht and Glenshee are okay too - Lecht probably more manageable for the wee ones and closer to Aviemore too.

Don't get me wrong I fully intend to get her onto home snow, it's just that this Easter in particular I need things to be relatively stress and uncertainty free and unfortunately if CML haven't learnt a few lessons from the recent busy spell it might not be and it's that risk I'm trying to avoid. Having said that anywhere can have it's stresses, it's just about balancing the choices and at least in France I can blame the locals and walk away not caring about the future of their resort winking smiley but in Scotland I care too much!



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