‘Save the Ciste’ Campaign
The full ‘Save the Ciste‘ website is on-line, and I would encourage all of you to visit it and sign the E-Petition to lend your voice to the calls for chairlift reinstatement.
Several articles have appeared in the media, such as local newspaper The Strathspey and Badenoch Herald, which can be read here, here, and here, and in the Scotsman here. Mention of the campaign has also appeared on BBC Reporting Scotland (which can be seen here) and BBC Alba (which can be seen here).
Over 1000 people have signed the e-petition, and numbers continue to increase.
“Hell for the company” (part 3)
Following heavy drifting CairnGorm have lost their all-over cover, but gained a huge depth in all the natural bowls and gullies that should set us up for the rest of the season. And for Coire na Ciste this is particularly good news, with the full length runs complete right out to the carpark (all that’s missing is the uplift).
The Ciste Gully is incredibly wide and is holding a huge depth of snow, but drifting regularly works against CML’s core lift policy. Following high winds, heather is re-appearing in the usual problem area on the traverse back to the West Wall Poma. This has resulted in people being forced to traverse higher and higher up the West Wall in order to reach the Poma – not only cutting their own runs short, but also cutting up the steepest pitch of the West Wall in the process and making it impossible to enjoy the East Wall (No.2 Gully) without having to cut off early mid-way down. There remains a large depth of snow to the Ciste boardwalk and Chairlifts, which highlights how badly placed the West Wall Poma is to serve the area. The two Chairlifts were placed where they are for good reason – reference my blog post on 21.01.10 (‘Of Snowfields and Bare Hillsides’) which demonstrates the problem in more detail.
A high traverse necessary to return to the Poma, while it is still skiable to the Ciste Chairlifts. 07/02/10
Finally, the meaning behind the title of this post? ‘Food for thought’ graffiti was spotted written inside the West Wall Poma lift shack on Saturday that read:
Heaven for the climate,
Hell for the company.
(2010)
Says it all?
Stay tuned for more..
21.01.10Snowfields & Bare Hillsides (part 2)
Even in times of marginal snow cover at CairnGorm, there are often snow-sure lines that enable the West Wall Chairlift (WWC, lift no. 11) to operate when the West Wall Poma (WWP, lift no. 15) isn’t able. Here is a photograph that demonstrates the location of the natural snowfields in Coire na Ciste, where it is possible to ski to the boardwalks (which return to the Ciste Chairlifts) but not to the WWP. This situation has been noted as being an occurrence every winter for varying timescales since 2005/06 (when we started paying attention), and in 2008 was seen to endure for several weeks.
 Early January 2008 - Ciste Gully, East and West Walls all complete to the WWC for several weeks, but no viable route to the WWP during this period. Problem area highlighted in pink |
 December 2009. Coire na Ciste's snowfields not skiable to the WWP, but are to the Chairlifts - despite less snow than the previous photo. The WWP's exposed position has left it marooned. Problem area highlighted in pink |
The base of the WWP is at 722m, and the Ciste Chairlift mid-station sits at 696m. Despite being at a slightly higher elevation, the WWP is sited on the brow of the hill in an area not known for snow holding, and was built to supplement the capacity of the Ciste Chairlifts. Given the location of the WWP, the bottom section is often snowless – despite use of snow fencing here. The WWC was sited deeper in Coire na Ciste in an area of reliable snowholding, and this is complimented by a boardwalk that runs from the Ciste Gully to the Ciste Chairlift mid-station. The natural snowfield allows a snow-sure line to reach the foot of the WWC on a significantly higher number of occasions than the WWP.
 July 2009. Vegetation on the hillside shows where the snow lies best. The more snow-sure runs have been marked, with the problem area highlighted in pink where the snow lies least |
 Satellite image of vegetation shows where the snow lies most, with all reliable routes leading back to the boardwalk and the Chairlifts. The vegetation betrays the lack of snow holding on the return to the West Wall Poma |
It is well known that Chairlifts – unlike surface lifts – do not require an uptrack to be complete in order for them to be run. The only requirement therefore is for a complete line of snow to run from the top to the base of the Chairlift (or to the boardwalk). The WWC was designed with this in mind, to take advantage of the natural snow holding. The WWP requires the uptrack to be maintained, and a break of only a few metres in the uptrack could render the entire area closed. This has been noted as happening on several occasions over the past few winters. The operating company has also stated that it is necessary to be able to drive a Kassbohrer (Piste Machine) into Coire na Ciste via Over Yonder (that traverses the Aonach Bowl) to the foot of the WWP before the lift will operate. To operate the WWP, therefore, they require both the WWP uptrack and the M2/Over Yonder ski run to have enough cover to be negotiated by a Kassbohrer. The WWC does not carry with it this requirement.
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Stay tuned for the next installment..
20.01.10West Wall without its Chair (part 1)
The result of CairnGorm Mountain Limited’s decision to close all uplift in Coire na Ciste with the exception of the West Wall Poma (WWP, lift no. 15) has been manifested at its most basic level by shortening runs and introducing extreme rutting to the West Wall. The following diagram highlights in green the rutted area left by skiers traversing away from runs early (namely the Ciste Gully and East Wall No.2 Gully) in order to return to the WWP. The yellow line marks the lowermost limit to which people can ski without having to hike.
Through operating only the WWP not only are the ski runs significantly shorter, but the quality of the ski terrain has also decreased as a result with the steepest pitch of the West Wall often becoming unskiable.
 Impact of rutting on the West Wall from skiers forced to traverse early back to the West Wall Poma |
 OS Map mock-up of the photo |
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Stay tuned for the next installment..
19.01.10“A Case for the Ciste” (introduction)
In 2005 CairnGorm Mountain Limited (CML) announced that the Coire na Ciste Chairlifts and the Aonach Poma were to be decommissioned, stating that these lifts were ‘obsolete’. They justified this decision by stating that the West Wall Poma provided a more than adequate service in Coire na Ciste, and was preferable to the two chairlifts. This operational move was – and continues to be – strongly opposed by skiers, with most believing that the West Wall Poma alone does not adequately serve the area of Coire na Ciste. This series of blog posts will attempt to assess and introduce arguments surrounding the uplift in Coire na Ciste, focusing primarily on the Ciste Chairlifts and the West Wall Poma.
Area served:
The ‘core runs’ in Coire na Ciste essentially consist of:
Aonach Bowl (Red)
Chair Run (Red)
Ciste Gully (Red)
East Wall No. 1 Gully (off-piste – red)
East Wall No. 2 Gully (off-piste – black)
West Wall (Black)
More minor runs include the Aonach (“Rita’s”) Ridge (Blue), Coire Laogh Mor (Blue) run, Lower Aonach (Blue), and the Lower Ciste (Green) run that returns to the Ciste Carpark.
Infrastructure in question:
| Lift name | Length (m) | Vertical (m) | Capacity (skiers/hr) | Date built |
| West Wall Chairlift | 863 | 280 | 849 | Feb 1974 |
| Coire na Ciste Chairlift | 953 | 145 | 596* | Apr 1974 |
| Aonach Poma | 918 | 260 | 769 | Dec 1978 |
| West Wall Poma | 1641 | 365 | 784 | Jan 1986 |
* Actual design capacity: 1000 skiers/hr
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Stand by for more..
