Aviemore and the Cairngorms Blog

Week commencing Thursday 8^th April 2010 at CairnGorm Mountain

The snow has softened in recent days to give great spring conditions all over the mountain and we have had all lifts open except the Sheiling Platter and the Day Lodge pomas. We aim to go on offering skiing and boarding daily throughout April and up to 3^rd May. We expect to be busy this weekend so get here early for car parking and hire or hire off-site in Aviemore. For further Easter Break survival tips click: http://www.cairngormmountain.co.uk/snow-sports-at-cairngorm-mountain/survival-tips-for-easter-holidays Come and enjoy some evening skiing on Thursday 8^th April - see Events below.

If you are planning to ski off-piste look out for and take heed of the yellow and black avalanche flags.

Please note you can now purchase winter season tickets for 2011 at the same rate as last year until the 30th April 2010. Application form pdf download is available on the right hand side on this link page. http://www.cairngormmountain.co.uk/snow-sports-at-cairngorm-mountain

MOUNTAIN WEATHER OUTLOOK

Thursday  8^th April: Wind W 25-30, gusting 45mph. Isolated showers falling as snow  above 900m. Some cloud clearing by midday to give extensive sunshine and excellent visibility. Temp. at 900m 2C.

Friday 9^th April: Wind W 10mph. No rain. Patchy cloud lifting and clearing by late morning to give sunshine and good visibility with some haze. Temp. at 900m 3-5C.

Saturday 10^th April: Wind S 10-25mph. No rain, little cloud, extensive sunshine. Temp. at 900m 5-7C

Outlook: Fine, warm and increasingly sunny with overnight frost. Turning colder next week.

TICKETS

To get out onto the slopes quicker the Ranger Base issues tickets for internet bookings and all vouchers, but no cash or card transactions here. A cash booth usually operates at busy times as well. This is located to the left of the Cas bar entrance selling day tickets until lunchtime. (No hire or 2-day tickets.)

Please tie ski passes onto a visible part of your clothing and expect to have your snowsports tickets checked closely at all uplift.

The Ski School have lesson availability at the weekend and into next week. Tel. 08455 191191.

OPENING TIMES, PARKING & SHUTTLE BUSES

Ticket Office, Hire and the Cas Bar will be open at 8:00am daily up to and including Sunday 11^th April. The first train up will be at 9.00am, last train up at 3.45pm and last down at 4.30pm. Other uplift will be open for 8.30am. Please get here early to ensure you can get into our car parks which fill up quickly at the weekend and holiday times and to ensure that you get hire if you need it. Shuttle bus will be running from the Ciste Car Park. This will leave the Ciste car park at quarter past and quarter to the hour. Last morning bus 1.45pm, first afternoon bus 2.45pm (for drivers’ compulsory lunch break). Last bus of the day from Ciste car park to Base station 5.15pm. Please note we do not allow cars to drop off customers at the Upper car parks when we are using the Ciste. Please use the shuttle bus.  We will open later from Monday 12^th April – check web-site for details.

EVENTS

Easter events page link http://www.cairngormmountain.co.uk/see-do/events

Thursday 8^th April: Evening Skiing at CairnGorm Mountain

An opportunity for some really late spring skiing at CairnGorm Mountain. A number of lifts (Car Park and Cas tows and possibly the Fiacaill Ridge poma) will remain open from 4pm until 7.30pm (snow and weather permitting). If you wish to come up for the evening ski only a ticket will cost £10 per person. Season tickets, day tickets and afternoon tickets are also valid for skiing on this evening. Ski hire for the evening only will not be available however. We will try to make skidoo rides available for a donation but with the recent lower snow melt it is unlikely we will be able to offer rides on the piste-basher as we had originally hoped to do.

Thursday 8^th April: Cairngorm Brewery Easter Tasting

CairnGorm Brewery will present a selection of their locally brewed ales for tasting in the Ptarmigan Resturant from 2pm onwards. Participants must be over 18 years.

Friday 9^th & Saturday 10^th April: Physics on the Mountain Friday 2pm-4pm and Saturday 10am-4pm

Can you skewer a balloon? Make a rocket with alka-seltzers? Make water defy gravity? Come and find out. Look out for the roving team from the Institute of Physics in Scotland at various locations on the hill and get involved with some of these activities.

Saturday 10^th April: Cairngorm Snowboard Club Vans Snowboard Competition ‘Dawn of the Shred’

Registration 9 - 11 am in the T-Bar. Jam session starts in the terrain park from c.11 am. Actual competition starts c. 12 noon. £10 entry fee and £10 Bib deposit.

(Competitors must be in possession of a valid ski ticket as well.)

More details can be obtained via the club website; www.cairngormsnowboardclub.co.uk

Sunday 11^th April: The Storm ski test day previously arranged for Sunday has had to be cancelled.

Sledging: The Sledge Park is usually open from 10am until 3:20pm daily. Check at the ticket office that the park is open before buying your train ticket there then get your sledge ticket from the Shop at the Top. Only our mountain sledges can be used. It is not permitted to take your own sledges onto the Funicular and sledge park.

Shopping: The Shop at the Top has a bulging end of season sale rail, including 50 % off all children’s clothing from Weird Fish and Pachamama.  There’s 20% off goggles too. New spring clothing stock is now in and there are lots of new gift ideas to choose from. Please note that on Monday 12th April the Mountain Shop will be closed  in the morning and the Shop at the Top closed all day for stocktaking.

CONDITION UPDATES

Watch the web site for updates www.cairngormmountain.org. Tune into Speysound (107.1) at the weekend for updates or MFR 96.6 FM during the week. You can also follow us on Twitter at cairngormmtn. Our telephone message is also updated first thing in the morning and last thing at night with the weather outlook. The number to call is 01479 861261.

CairnGorm Mountain Ltd

Here is a piece and some pics on the fund raiser that CairnGorm’s Ski Hire Team did on Saturday 20^th February to raise funds for the British Heart Foundation.

Katie Fortune has been a member of the ski hire team for 2 winter seasons and she lost her mother, Jane Fortune, in 2002 when she had a heart attack. Many members of her family have also been affected by heart conditions. The Ski Hire team wanted to support their colleague – Katie – who plans to run the London Marathon on the 25^th April this year along with three other Aviemore based runners. So the whole hire team dressed up as the Village People and provided some unexpected, impromptu entertainment for ski hire customers over the last weekend of the half term holidays.

Customers rewarded them well for their efforts and they raised over £750 for the British Heart Foundation. Katie also has her own  personal fund raising page http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/KatieFortune and she hopes  to bring the total raised to well over £3000.

The British Heart Foundation also commented that this is the Highest Foundraiser that has been held in the UK.

For further information please contact Katie Fortune on 077961 786074 or Tania Alliod 01479 861304

Notes:

Pictures: Ski Hire Team Dressed as the Village People, and Katie Fortune – member of ski hire team raising funds for British Heart Foundation.

Snow Conditions
At the time of writing, recent snowfall has resulted in excellent conditions for snow sports at CairnGorm Mountain for the half term holidays. Skiing is possible from top to bottom all 12 lifts are operating and all 39 runs are skiable. As always please visit our web site for the most up to date conditions and weather. Have fun  and stay safe. 

The February Half Term holiday is always a busy time and due to the large number of visitors it is likely there will be queues for services like the ticket office, ski hire and ski school. We hope these top tips will help customers plan their visit and get the most out of their stay.  Please check electronic signs on the ski road for car park status updates. A public bus service runs from Aviemore Station on a regular basis we would encourage the public to use this service if car parks are full. Car sharing is also highly recommended so we can maximize car park space. 

Opening Times: (from Thursday 11th^th February for the half term holiday period until Sun 21st Feb). First public train up is 9.00 am. (Other uplift will open earlier subject to conditions). Competent skiers and snow boarders are encouraged to use the surface lift system (pomas and t bars) to reach higher runs and relieve congestion on the funicular.

Last train up 3.45 pm. Last train down 4.30 pm. (Last trains may run later depending on light and weather conditions)

The Ticket Office, Cas Bar and Equipment Hire will be open from 8.00am daily. On a busy day we can run out of hire equipment  by mid morning so get here early. There are other hire outlets in the area so if you are not an early riser we strongly advise you to hire off-site. A list of Hire outlets nearby is detailed below:

Outdoor Discovery: 01479 811066 or 811776 (on the ski road at Inverdruie)

Glenmore Shop: 01479 861253 (on the ski road at Glenmore)

Aviemore Ski and Snowboard Hire : 01479 811711 (Aviemore)

Ellis Brigham : 01479 810175 (Aviemore)

Nevis Sport: 01479 810239 (Aviemore)

 The Ski School is very busy over half term but there is availability. Please book by calling 01479 861319.

The Sledge Park will be open by 10.30am daily subject to conditions – please ask at the ticket office when you buy your train ticket. You should purchase a train ticket from the ticket office and sledge tickets can be purchased from the Shop at the Top located in the Ptarmigan Stop Station building. The presence of streams and rivers under the snow pack makes it dangerous to sledge other than in the designated area.  Non skiing visitors are advised to plan their visit after 11am and before 3pm.  

Buying Tickets. 

Non-skiing visitors and sledging visitors will require a funicular ticket to ride the train.

Snowsports visitors require a skiing ticket – this includes unlimited use of all lifts and the train.

If you have cash and require ski tickets only – these can be purchased at the cash desk kiosk next to the entrance to the Cas Bar in the Day Lodge. (Full price tickets only at the cash desk – no discounts will apply).

If you have purchased online or have vouchers – these can be exchanged in the Ranger Office (right next to the bus stop)

All equipment hire and lift tickets should be paid for at the ticket office prior to collecting equipment from the collection point on production of your receipt and rental deposit  - credit card or cash (£200) – no passports, car keys, mobile phones or pets please! 
Purchase your tickets on line at http://www.cairngormmountain.co.uk/buy-tickets-online/ or buy and collect your snow sports tickets on Friday night up until 10pm from Aviemore Ski and Board Hire next door to the Aviemore Laundry Service (underneath the Post Office) in the Myrtlefield Shopping Centre.  (Call Carol or Brian on 01479 811711to let them know what you need then collect on Friday.) Please note that buying your ticket in advance is not a guarantee that you will get through the snow gates when we are busy you still need to get here early

Catering Outlets

Consider taking an early or a late lunch. Ski school classes do make the lunchtime period very busy.

The Ptarmigan Restaurant (Top Station). Snacks, hot drinks, bar and hot menu. Open from 9am.

The Cas Bar (Day Lodge). Bar, Hot drinks and light snacks. Open from 8am.

Conditions permitting the Shieling will be open for packed lunches as will the T Bar in the Day Lodge where hot drinks will also be available.

Have a great half term break.

Events at Half Term

“Olympic Flame Descents” at CairnGorm Mountain

To mark the February half term break and the start of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Whistler, Canada, CairnGorm Mountain invite the public to take part in and / or watch “Olympic Flame Descents” on Monday 15^th and again on Wednesday 17^th February 2010.

To take part in one of these descents you are required to be a competent skier or snowboarder of intermediate/ advanced standard (able to ski confidently from the top to the bottom of the mountain).  Children wishing to take part should be aged 8- 16 years and need to be accompanied by a participating adult. Spaces are limited for both events. Participants will take the funicular railway to the top station from 4.30pm, where they will be given a hot drink and a beef roll. At dusk (which we expect to be around 5.30pm), 40cm light torches will be issued to every participant by ski patrol (flashing whistles are also available for a small charge). The CairnGorm ‘Olympic’ Flame will be carried by ski patrol who will lead and guide the descent.

You can book from Saturday 6^th February (prices will be confirmed shortly) by going to the ticket office in the Base Station between 1pm and 4pm. (Please note that telephone bookings cannot be accepted for this event as we require participants to complete a disclaimer).

Please note that day tickets and season tickets are not valid for this event and no hire will be available.

Spectators are welcome to watch the Descent from car park level where the Cas Bar will remain open until  7.30pm serving, hot drinks, home baking and light snacks. Weather permitting we will also open a sledge area on the lower slopes (sledge hire £5 per half hour) and there will also be an opportunity to take part in Skidoo and Piste Machine rides (£5 donation – for race timing and display boards).