Foreword
In the Cairngorms, an area of unique conservation importance, skiing has become a significant part of the local economy. At times, this has led to conflict, such as the debates throughout the 1980s over Lurcher's Gully. Finding lasting economic growth which is also environmentally sustainable is a real and continuing problem.

Since 1994 the proposal to replace the chairlifts with a funicular railway has been vigorously opposed by local and national environmental bodies. This is not because we want to end skiing or tourism, but because the Cairngorm Funicular would harm the environment and because a more careful approach which considers alternatives is needed here. Our report The Northern Cairngorms: An Alternative Approach confirmed that the Glenmore Gondola was as feasible and viable as the Cairngorm Funicular. This brochure demonstrates its benefits.

This option is offered as a stimulus to further discussion. We believe this will lead to a solution which benefits local people whilst meeting international responsibilities to care for the Cairngorms. For the sake of CairnGorm's environment and Strathspey's economy, we commend this approach and hope that efforts can be directed towards identifying and promoting a truly sustainable development proposal.

Michael M Scott
Chairman
Scottish Wildlife and Countryside Link

Helen Geddes
Covener
Save the Cairngorms Campaign

The Northern Cairngorms: a precious resource
“From any standpoint the Cairngorms Area is outstanding in regional, national and international natural heritage terms”
- Report of Cairngorms working party 1992, chaired by Magnus Magnusson

The unique importance of the Cairngorms is recognised by a host of landscape and wildlife designations, and the area is a proposed World Heritage Site. It includes four of Britain's five highest mountains and our largest expanse of high ground, an arctic-alpine landscape that is home to threatened birds and rare plants and the renowned Caledonian Forest.

All this is set within the working landscapes of the straths and glens. Visitors come from all over the world to walk, climb, ski and enjoy wildlife from the highest tops down to the glens. If the remote, wild character and the wildlife are lost there will be fewer visitors, and the income and jobs they provide will be jeopardised.


The Funicular Would Endanger All Of This

Replacing the haphazard chairlift development with a funicular railway will make a bad situation worse. A better solution must be found.

The chairlifts on CairnGorm are thirty years old and out of date. The piecemeal development of the tows, roads, buildings and lifts has led to a poorly designed ski area that falls short of the needs of modern downhill skiing and has caused severe damage to the fragile landscape and wildlife.

Now there is an opportunity to improve the area through national and European funding. With wise investment skiers, tourists, local businesses and the natural environment can all benefit. But if this opportunity is mishandled it could take fifty years or more to put right.

“The Cairngorm funicular.. another economic, political and planning disaster”
- Professor Chris Smout, St Andrews University

The proposed CairnGorm Funicular not only jeopardises the opportunities for improving the landscape and protecting wildlife; it actually threatens them by building a huge concrete structure, by bulldozing and tunnelling, and by inviting and encouraging more people towards the sensitive summit areas.

Tourists, hillwalkers and climbers are the mainstay of the local economy. The visual intrusion and proposed visitor controls mean that the Funicular will endanger the local economy because it will not cater for all these groups in the long term.

The Funicular Threatens:
+ The Local Economy
By damaging the very landscape and ecology which attract people to the area, the Funicular would jeopardise many local businesses.
+ Wildlife
With thousands more people being drawn further up the mountain, animal and habitat disturbance is impossible to avoid even with the proposed visitor controls.
+ The Landscape
Permanent scarring by bulldozers would remove delicate soils and leave slopes undefended against flash floods like those that have occurred in the Pyrenees
+ Active Recreation Because the developers need to encourage greater numbers of people to the mountain, the resulting visitor controls will deter the less harmful pursuits like walking and climbing.

There is an alternative


The Glenmore Gondola Soaring above the sunlit pine forest and open hillside, the Gondola glides for two breathtaking miles to over 2,000 ft. Then the visitor can travel back down by Gondola or enjoy a quality experience, walking magnificent pine forest trails downhill all the way.

(See diagram, for use with following key)

1. Summit and Plateau
Would be protected by the long walk in. This would apply even-handedly to everyone; the Gondola would be available to all.
2. Ski Area
Would be redesigned to optimise the ski runs with a new network of modern lifts and tows open only during the skiing season
3. Coire Cas Day Lodge
Would become the top point of the Gondola ride, offering modest visitor facilities. This would be the starting point for the downhill trails, some of which would be suitable for bikes, wheelchairs and pushchairs
4. The Glenmore Gondola
Would run from Glenmore to Coire Cas, a magnificent scenic ride above the tree-tops of the restored Caledonian forest with views of lochs and glens.
5. Visitor Centre
Would be located at the foot of the Gondola in the Glenmore Forest Park, with landscaped, pleasant car parking. People would be informed about what they are to see before they embark on their journey.

(The attached diagram has been scaled down, so if you are having difficulty reading the text, refer to the below key)

a. 6 seater chairlifts, open for skiers only
b. Coire Cas carpark removed and reinstated
c. New Day Lodge
d. Coire na Ciste car park removed and reinstated
e. Ski road closed except services and emergency
f. Glenmore Gondola
g. Glenmore Visitor Centre
h. Glenmore carpark
i. Public road open all year


The table below lays out a clear comparison between the Glenmore Gondola and the CairnGorm Funicular. It plainly shows the advantages the Gondola has in every area: it brings more economic benefits, more protection of the environment, more enjoyment for visitors and more planning benefits – altogether a better alternative.

ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS
CairnGorm Funicular
Protection of sensitive plateau area depends on the imposition of visitor controls that (a) are unlikely to achieve their own objectives, (b) fatally undermine the economic viability of the project and (c) are inequitable, favouring some visitors over others.
Rating: 1 star
Glenmore Gondola
The plateau is protected from the over-easy access which would lead to erosion and disturbance.
The removal of mountain car parks and the narrowing of the road bring obvious improvements to the landscape. High level visual intrusion minimised.
Rating: 5 stars

ECONOMIC BENEFITS
CairnGorm Funicular
50 direct jobs are predicted, based on the estimate of 225,000 summer visitors per year. Independent assessments suggest that actual numbers are more likely to be around 100,000 – 120,000. The economic benefits are therefore greatly exaggerated. Greater and more secure benefits could be achieved by alternative uses of £10m of public money.
Rating: 2 stars
Glenmore Gondola
The improved visitor experience is likely to attract around 200,000 summer visitors per year resulting in 55 secure, long-term direct jobs.
The lower capital cost leaves scope for complementary developments, with associated economic benefits.
Rating: 3 stars

VISITOR BENEFITS
CairnGorm Funicular
The visitor experience is based on a train ride (partly through a tunnel) to a café which is usually in cloud and from which it is not possible to exit.
The main interpretation is at the destination, and even that refers to the mountain from which funicular passengers are barred
Rating: 1 star
Glenmore Gondola
The Gondola ride provides views over loch, forest, moors and mountain. Coire Cas is normally cloud free, offering views from 2,000 ft, with a variety of options for walking thereafter.
The main interpretation precedes the experience, and offers greater educational opportunities.
Rating: 4 stars

SKIING BENEFITS
CairnGorm Funicular
Queueing for carparks and shuttle buses will continue. The funicular provides standing accommodation only, so skis will have to be removed. There is no opportunity to review the layout of the ski area.
Operates in winds up to Force 12, but road clearance still necessary at times
Rating: 3 stars
Glenmore Gondola
New 6-seater chairlifts would reduce queues and provide seated, sheltered uplift without the need to remove skis.
Review of the ski area layout could increase the range and quality of the skiing.
Gondola operates in winds up to Force 11, and chairlifts in winds up to Force 9. This allows skiing in all but unsafe conditions, and evacuation when necessary.
Rating: 4 stars

TOTAL RATINGS
CairnGorm Funicular 7 stars
Glenmore Gondola 16 stars


The Glenmore Gondola – a better alternative
A far more accessible and exciting experience for a wide range of non-skiing visitors. Older people, families with young children, people with disabilities, keen walkers and bird watchers will all benefit.

In winter it will provide rapid access for downhill skiers who will not have to wait for the road or mountain car parks to be cleared. Unless the winds are too strong for safe skiing, the Gondola will operate and the chairlifts will run.

Better ride
A spectacular, high ride with panoramic views over a changing forest and open mountain landscape.

Better conservation
Visitor pressure is directed away from the sensitive core area. The uplift facilities, buildings and car parks are sympathetically designed.

Better parking
Within the forest, screened and custom built parking gives the opportunity for pleasant picnicking. Removes congestion at the beginning and end of busy skiing days.

Better visitor centre
Available to all the 750,000 visitors to Glenmore not just Gondola passengers. The centre will have a wide appeal and can be used by schools and the local community.

Better Day Lodge
Remodelled as a visitor destination in summer and the main focus for the ski area in winter. Removal of the high level car parks improves the landscape and mountain experience.

Better skiing
Rationalised with modern lifts, no need to remove skis and no concrete structures to hinder passage between pistes. After heavy snowfalls it would be possible to ski all the way to Glenmore.

Better visitor experience
With a wide choice of descents and more pleasant weather conditions the more enjoyable experience will prompt more repeat visits.

Better economic prospects
Attracting a wider range of first-time and repeat visitors will sustain more long-term, secure jobs for the area.


Support a better alternative – The Glenmore Gondola

“The Trust believes [there is] a genuine opportunity to resolve the current conflict, by all involved meeting to consider ... a sustainable development which would benefit the local economy and safeguard jobs ... revised proposals could command widespread agreement”
- Hamish Leslie Melville,
NTS Chairman.
Letter to Secretary of State for Scotland, 29th March 1996

“In Glenmore and the Cairngorms, the tourism industry has an enormous asset. With sensitive development this area will sustain far more jobs than the chairlift company's proposals will ever do”
– David Hayes,
Director, Landmark.
he Scotsman, 15th May 2006

“We believe that the built access itself could be greatly improved. The road could perhaps, in time, be converted into a more attractive visitor experience, by using a gondola system...”
- Report of Cairngorms working party, 1992,
Chaired by Magnus Magnusson


It is now widely recognised that for skiers and tourists alike there are sustainable, practical alternatives to the CairnGorm Funicular. This brochure highlights one of them, and it shows clearly that further consideration is necessary.

The international importance of the Cairngorms makes their conservation the responsibility of the Secretary of State for Scotland. He must not allow the Funicular to proceed without either examining the alternatives or showing its overriding importance to the economy; neither has been done. Under the circumstances, we believe that he must ensure that all interested parties work together to develop a truly sustainable solution.

We stand ready to take part in such discussions and hope that others will soon do likewise. A sustainable solution built on agreement will secure equal or greater financial support and rapidly benefit both the economy and the environment of Strathspey.