Comments made to the Strathy on 23rd January by the local MSP Fergus Ewing suggest he was unaware of the “toxic culture” at Cairn Gorm (see here) and is still in denial about the funicular: “Much of the criticism directed towards the hill and in particular the funicular is in my view unwarranted and also…
Tag: funicular
The treatment of staff at Cairngorm Mountain For a number of years now I and other campaigners have heard about the toxic culture at Cairngorm Mountain (Scotland Ltd (CMSL) but until now staff and former staff have been very reluctant to speak out about it. Besides the bullying and intimidation referred to in the…
On 17th January BBC Scotland published a story “No opening date for funicular as funicular repairs near end (see here). In it they stated: “Owners, public agency Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), had hoped to have it running again late last year but said bad weather had caused delays”. Consider the image above and compare…
Included in the press statement Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) released on Xmas Eve about the funicular not re-opening as planned by the end of the year (see here) was the following: As recently explained (see here) “Safety testing, trial runs, staff training” all take place AFTER the remediation works are finished and assuming that everything…
As predicted on Parkswatch (see here) the funicular will not be re-opening for the end of December “as hoped” because Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) still need to prove the repairs undertaken by Balfour Beatty have made the railway structure safe. HIE did not announce the news until Xmas Eve (see here). Until then the…
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 Now you see it: Now you don’t: Last year’s pantomime dame, Susan Smith, has now retired and been replaced by another, although this time it follows tradition in being a man.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”…
Following on from my post about the metal brackets being use to hold the funicular together (see here) this post takes a further look at WHY the concrete “I” beams have been disintegrating. It is now five weeks since my walk up the funicular and discussions with staff who told me the funicular would be…
On Friday 04/10/2024, prompted by HIE’s announcements about the timecale for the “snagging works” being carried out and paid for by Balfour Beatty (see here), I took a walk up to the passing loop of the funicular accompanied by two friends. Following what I had written last December (see here) I expected to see changes/ repairs…
Alan Brattey in his post of 18/12/2023 (see here) described the various claims Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) and Cairngorm Mountain (Scotland) Ltd (CM(S)L) had made about the funicular’s return to service for last year’s snowsport season. It never did and it is still not operating. On 04/10/2024 accompanied by two friends I had a…
GB TTIt is over three years since parkwatch published a letter from Alistair Bell in Canada about HIE’s corporate gaslighting at Cairn Gorm and why people had allowed downhill skiing there to die (see here). There have of course been several campaigns against HIE before, successful in the case of the opposition to extend downhill…
Never, when writing my post HIE’s crumbling empire on Wednesday (see here), did I guess that Cairngorm Mountain Scotland Ltd (CMSL) would have confirmed my analysis within 24 hours with this admission that the one ski resort in Scotland with natural snow, high in the Ptarmigan bowl, was inaccessible due to the lack of uplift….
The funicular, HIE’s crumbling empire at Cairn Gorm and the need to reform Scotland’s National Parks
The current position ” Risks associated with reinstatement of the Cairngorm funicular railway were addressed through robust internal and external governance and project management” (HIE Annual Report 2022-23 as laid before the Scottish Government in October). There was no public news release but last week Highlands and Islands Enterprise let it be known through the…
On 25th January it was a year and a day since the UK Department for Transport had declared the funicular safe to re-open and exactly five calendar months since the funicular was suddenly closed for safety reasons and to attend to ‘snagging work’. After announcing several dates by when it expected the funicular to reopen…
The Cairn Gorm funicular railway first went into service on 24 December 2001. The significant cost overruns have been well documented but it should be made clear that the construction costs were met from the public purse and that there was no requirement on the operating company to repay any of that grant funding. The…
(A) The steel strengthening brackets This picture shows the three different types of bracket used in the strengthening works. I have labelled these:- Type 1. The bracket in the foreground (used in the central section of the “I” beam Type 2. The brackets around the insitu block either side of the number 23 Type…
The funicular railway on Cairn Gorm was returned to service in late January 2023 after having been closed for repairs since October 2018. Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) committed >£26m to the work that it had deemed a better option for the future of the CairnGorm Mountain business than removing it. The eye watering final…
After my post on Concrete and the Death of a Ski Resort (see here) the following comment was posted which I think deserves a proper reply. Environmental change Significant human intervention began at Cairn Gorm when skiers first arrived and decided it was the best place to build a ski area, a resort that has…
Cairngorm Mountain (Scotland) Ltd (CMSL) is Highland and Islands Enterprise (HIE)’s subsidiary that is responsible for operating the facilities at Cairn Gorm, including the funicular. Earlier this month saw the publication (see here) of its accounts for the year to 31st March 2023. They start with this statement signed by Peter Mearns on behalf the…
After my last post I had conversations with a couple of people about my conclusions that the insitu stitch/ joints are the wrong way up, i.e. instead of the joint being wedge shaped, as in the picture above, it should be more of a pyramid, as in my drawing below. There were a…
The accounts for Natural Assets Investment Ltd (NAIL) (see here), the zombie company which bought Cairngorm Mountain Ltd (CML) from Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), were published at the end of September. NAIL placed CML into administration after the funicular became unsafe to operate in 2018 and was one of the parties HIE subsequently sued….
While researching why the funicular was beams were built out of concrete rather than steel (see here), apart from being told that the beams should have been deeper, “tensioning” was mentioned. I didn’t appreciate the importance of what was being talked about at the time but then, after my last post (see here), this comment appeared:-…
Since the funicular was closed on 25th August for “snagging” (see here) to address public safety concerns the re-opening date keeps getting put back. The latest is Monday – 16/10/2023! Little further information has been forthcoming from HIE about the reasons for the closure or the work being done although following my post they did once…
In June HIE claimed the funicular was perfectly safe On 09/06/2023, after being contacted by several Parkswatch readers, I wrote a letter (see here) raising safety concerns about the Cairn Gorm funicular to Stuart Black, Chief Executive Officer of Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), who own it. On 21/06/2023, I received a reply not from…
Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) announced that they had settled the three funicular court cases (see here) out of court four days after I had announced parkswatch was taking a break (see here). I am happy to admit Parkswatch got it wrong when we predicted (see here) and (here) that the court cases would end…
Photo courtesy of PW reader showing reinforcement of an “I” beam below the Shieling. My first post in this series (see here) showed how the original design for the funicular was for a steel structure but it was then changed to concrete. When questioned by the Public Audit Committee about this in 2009 Highland and…