Highland and Island Enterprise’s Cairngorm Mountain business is not on the public water supply.  Water comes either from the Marquis Well or the Fiacaill Pump House intake and, while weather on Speyside has been better than much of the rest of Scotland recently, there has not been a drought.

In the past there was quite an elaborate system of pipes, stopcocks and valves under the Daylodge.  This included filters and UV lamps that could treat water taken from a back up intake below the Sheiling tow and circulate it to any part of the building.  As a last resort there was an untreated “dirty” feed straight out of the burn that could keep the toilets functioning whatever else happened.   The sign suggests that ALL of these systems failed last week.

The likely explanation is that they have not been maintained properly, either by Natural Retreats or Cairngorm Mountain Scotland Ltd.  While HIE has obsessed with the funicular it has literally allow the infrastructure at Cairn Gorm to fall apart.  No water means much needed income lost.

Unfortunately the paint budget appears to have been exhausted before Cairngorm Mountain Scotland Ltd got round the back.

The old base building, with a little imagination, could have provided a base for the many campervanners who have been stopping off at the Ciste car park  – toilets, grey water disposal facilities and electric hook-ups – and brought in much needed income.  Why is it that our politicians and public authorities prefer to spend resources on white elephants, like the funicular, rather than maintaining and providing basic infrastructure?