Cairngorm ‘optimistic’ about coming winter
I travelled to the Scottish Highlands in the early part of this week for the first skiing of the new winter. There is a lot of talk there inevitably about global warming damaging the European ski industry. The mountain was taken into public ownership in March this year because it fell into financial trouble and the building of the expensive funicular is being investigated by the Scottish executive. But the people who run Cairngorm are “cautiously optimistic” about this winter and have sold a good number of season tickets. The plan is to react quickly to snow when it arrives and get the right bits of the mountain open, the new chief executive, Ian Whitaker said. Reports he’s seen show there might be snow enough to ski at the top of the mountain for another 60 years. After decades of steady decline, however, the number of summer and non-skiing visitors outnumber the winter by around three to one, and even in winter many people come just to look at the snow rather than ski on it. Perhaps this is how many ski areas will do things in future.
