Well it’s that time of year again.

Now you see it:

Now you don’t:

Last year’s pantomime dame, Susan Smith, has now retired and been replaced by another, although this time it follows tradition in being a man.  The script, however, has not changed.

After the funicular closed “ in the interests of public safety”  in August 2023, Susan Smith and her team announced new reopening dates at regular, almost fortnightly, intervals (see here).  This was to encourage the crowd, in the form of season pass holders, to buy their passes for the new snowsports season, starting on 22/12/2023, with the promise that the funicular would open sometime in the 23/24 ski season.

All together now……………….

“Oh no it didn’t.”

It was bad enough that Susan Smith had no qualifications for her role but the new interim CEO, Tim Hearst, doesn’t appear to have any either (see here).  He is another HIE insider who has been seconded from HIE’s subsidiary Wave Energy Scotland after representing HIE on the Cairngorm Mountain Scotland Ltd board which directs the whole pantomine.  HIE had ample opportunity after Susan Smith declared her intention to retire to hold interviews for a full time QUALIFIED CEO but instead held auditions for a new pantomime master on a part time, two days a week, basis.

Mr Hearst has carried on the script of announcing new opening dates at regular intervals (see here) and just a week ago got himself onto the front page of the Strathy:

But then earlier this week Cairngorm Mountain (Scotland) Ltd (CM(S)L announced:

It the same pantomime as last year except the dates now seem to be changing every week!

“Oh yes it will! (aside) Maybe!

Oh no it won’t”.

To continue on a more serious, less festive, note…………………….

Selling season passes, including approx. 200 to the Cairngorm Ski Club, on these flaky assertions generates a distrust in any communications from either HIE or CM(S)L. That is not good business sense.  Under the FAQs section of the CM(S)L website about the purchase of early bird season passes (see here) it was still stating this morning:

 

 

 

 

 

How long will it take HIE to get the repairs signed off by DfT?

Before the funicular can re-open it needs to be signed off as safe by the UK Department for Transport.  FOI requests from Gordon Bulloch and Nick Kempe earlier this year obtained copies of communications and documentation relating to how the original repairs to the funicular structure had been signed off as safe in January 2023 (see here).

In summary the process involved:

– the production of an independent safety report, which HIE commissioned from Sequs consulting – a tiny local firm which employed one person at the time;

– the checking of the safety report and final commissioning trials by LECS UK, lift and elevator specialists, who act on behalf of the DfT;

– final authorisation being  issued by civil servants at DfT.

While most of Sequs’ safety report appears to have been written before the repairs in 2022 repairs were finished, it was only finalised and signed off once they were completed on 16^th December. LECS UK then attended “final commissioning tests to confirm compliance” on 20^th December and it then took another month for DfT to grant the authorisation on 24^th January.

If the same timescales were required now and given the Xmas/New Year holidays, it would take about five and a half weeks from the scaffolding being finally removed from the structure until the funicular could re-open.  That should make people extremely sceptical about HIE’s claims this week that the most recent delays will only be a matter of a few days.

There are, however, a number of reasons why the safety process should take longer to sign off this time, not least that the organisations involved got it so wrong last time: how could a “cableway” declared safe in January 2023 be closed for safety reasons in August?  HIE has so far failed to answer that question.

Moreover, the last report from Sequs was based on a number of premisses:

“The case for safety within this report is built on the following elements:

▪ Competence and quality of all organisations, individuals and processes involved in the design of the construction work.

▪ Good practice Engineering Safety Management processes have been completed.

▪ The risk associated with the installation is understood. The risk is tolerable and reduced to As Low As Is Reasonably Practicable (ALARP).

▪ The proposed strengthening works are compliant with relevant standards and legal requirements”

The problem for HIE, Sequs, LEKS UK and the DfT is that since the last repairs failed most of this can no longer be assumed but will need to be justified by evidence.  For example it appears “the risk associated with the installation” clearly weren’t “understood” last time as the funicular was allowed to re-open and run for eight months before being closed again on safety grounds.

The challenge has become all the greater since engineering expert John Carson has spoken out.  The risk for both Sequs and LECS is that if the funicular were to fail catastrophically, they could be in the dock.  It is not unreasonable to state therefore that both organisations, if still contracted to do the safety checks, will want to be exceptionally thorough and that will take time.

 

What needs to happen

HIE needs to clearly and unequivocally state that it puts the safety of funicular users first. That means being transparent about why the first set of repairs didn’t work and why, with the second set of repairs, Balfour Beatty has had to retension all the metal brackets (see here).  It also means explaining HOW the safety of the funicular will be monitored assuming it passes all the safety checks.

At the same time it needs to be open and honest about how long it will take for the funicular to be declared safe once the repair work is finally complete and stop trying to sell season tickets with claims that the funicular will re-open soon.

It would be a far better for the reputation of the business to admit the uncertainty of the funicular reopening and then offer a free season ticket to anyone who manages to use day passes of an equivalent value to the early bird pass (£358 compared to £571 for a full adult pass).

For those who have already bought season passes, as a gesture of good faith, CM(S)L could offer a refund if enough skiing days were not available.

It would also help if CMSL stated how many of the thirteen publicly funded snow cannon are going to be operational this winter to allow access to the upper mountain if the funicular doesn’t operate? And will the cabin, again publicly funded and currently fitted to a Unimog, be used for its intended purpose to convey snowsports enthusiasts up to the snow covered slopes?

At the end of the day CM(S)L and HIE are accountable to the Scottish Government who therefore need to intervene to sort out the whole pantomine. Cairn Gorm used to be the U.K’s premier ski resort, the go to destination for thousands of recreational skiers and a major training area for our National and Olympic hopefuls.  Despite the endless public funds it has completely collapsed under HIE’s management. We cannot afford to lose this facility. When is the Scottish Government going to step up, get HIE off the hill and put CMSL under honest and competent management.