I have not so far blogged on the long-awaited (see here) masterplan for Cairn Gorm which Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) published last June (see here).  Subtitled “Unlocking the potential of the Cairngorm Mountain Estate”, the masterplan is a vague and poorly drafted document:  the operator, Cairngorm Mountain Scotland Ltd (CMSL) is to explore “options for new chairlift” (sic) in Coire Cas;  HIE is lead on engaging with others “to assess potential for collaborative approach” (sic) to a new Centre for the Mountain Environment to replace the Day Lodge; the Cairngorms National Park Authority is delegated to lead on the delivery of a feasibility study into sustainable transport between Cairn Gorm and Aviemore.

The lack of concrete plans should not surprise anyone.  Having committed to spend close on £15m to fix the funicular (see here) – an amount that will have since risen due to the repairs taking a year longer than originally planned (see here) – HIE has little money to invest in anything else at Cairn Gorm.  Their  announcement on mountain biking (above) needs to be understood within that context.

According to the  masterplan HIE was, in years 1-2, going to create a “mountain biking development plan” and then only in years 3-5 seeking planning consent to develop mountain biking activities at Cairn Gorm:

If the planning application is submitted early this year, as claimed, that will be two years earlier than scheduled but without any mountain bike development plan having been made public or consulted on.

The review of the Section 50 Agreement, which prevents summer users of the funicular exiting from the Ptarmigan restaurant onto the Cairngorm plateau, has also been brought forward:

Both are now being described as the “first plank” of the masterplan showing that HIE’s plans really aren’t worth the paper they are written on. 

What is being proposed?

The article in the Strathy suggests there will be a number of family friendly 1 km long mountain bike trails between the Day Lodge and the mid-station. While some people might bike up the access road to the trails, the hope is that people will pay to have their bikes carried up on the funicular or the magic carpet.

Using a magic carpet for mountain bike uplift was a new concept for me and I haven’t been able to find any references to them being used in this way elsewhere.  Magic carpets are generally quite short, slow moving and used on gently inclined slopes, like the lower Cas.  It seems to me any child who is a competent enough cyclist to head down a trail on such a slope is also likely to be able to bike up it – and much more quickly!  It would be interesting to know what Developing Mountain Biking in Scotland, whom HIE claim to have consulted closely, think. But in my view it is difficult to see this proposal drawing many families to Cairn Gorm and even if there was demand for such a facility, it’s in the wrong place due to the weather on the mountain.

The use of the funicular for mountain bike uplift raises a different set of issues.  Presumably, HIE will remove some of the seating, which is installed in the summer to allow visitors to enjoy the views in comfort, but reduces capacity.  Carrying bikes, however, appears likely to reduce capacity even further.  Perhaps demand is so low that that won’t matter?  But you can see issues where two coach loads of tourists and several families with bikes turn up at the same time.  Still, there are funiculars in Europe that carry mountain bikes, so these problems may not be insuperable. But there is still the issue of the mid-station which is egressed by a flight of steps – hardly suitable for children and bikes.

Dave MacLeod was coy about what trails are proposed, stating these will be revealed at the time of the planning application, so it is not clear how many are proposed, what the cost will be and the potential environmental impact.

More intriguing at this stage is HIE’s plan to allow people leave the Ptarmigan restaurant without amending the Section 50 and removing the closed system that was designed to prevent summer funicular users wandering out over the plateau. One wonders if the technology HIE is considering is a form electronic tagging that will allow visitors to walk up the stone steps to the summit of Cairn Gorm and back?  Perhaps they are looking at the No Fence system that gives livestock an electric shock when they step over a line?  People are so used to being tracked on their phones they will probably accept anything.

Why these proposals?

The most likely reason these two parts of the masterplan have been brought forward is that they potentially offer ways of getting more people to use the funicular. For the last 25 years the funicular and how to attract visitors to use it in summer has driven everything HIE does at Cairn Gorm.  Moroever HIE needs to be seen to do something to reduce the anticipated £9.76mthe funicular will lose over the next five years (see here).

Far from being a sign that HIE is about to “unlock Cairngorm Mountain’s true potential” it’s more of the same. That appears to have been confirmed by HIE’s announcement that Susan Smith had been appointed as permanent Chief Executive at the beginning of December (see here), a job she had filled temporarily since 2019.  It was Ms Smith who oversaw the disastrous outsourcing of the business to Natural Retreats (see here) and was responsible for the Ciste Campervan debacle last summer (see here).    Perhaps she will change now she has the permanent job?

If so, the first thing she should be directing her attention towards is new chairlifts at Cairn Gorm, which would be better than the funicular for both skiers and mountain bikers.  The big idea in HIE’s masterplan appears to have been to rebrand Cairn Gorm as a family friendly visitor attraction hence the tube slides, magic carpets,  and postage stamp beginners ski area. The whole concept is a terrible idea, not just because we shouldn’t be turning one of Scotland’s finest hills into a theme park, but because of the weather – there are too many bad days.  Because of that HIE’s latest big idea  won’t work any better than the original which was that summer visitors would throng to travel by funicular up to the top of Cairn Gorm in the clag.