The Plans
A short chairlift at low level serving a long double ski-tow in the Gully; a single base building; and access by single-track private shuttle-bus road.

Uplift and Pistes
The facilities proposed in Lurcher's Gully include a 400m long chairlift rising from the foot of the Gully to meet a 1,300m long double ski-tow running up to a point below the top of the Gully.

The main pistes will run down both sides of the double ski-tow and each side of the chairlift using the natural snow­holding of Lurcher's Gully. In conditions of poor snow cover, the chairlift will give access to the ski-tow as long as the runs it serves are open. Some snow/fences will be needed, but the excellent snow holding of the area will allow them to be kept to a minimum.

The Base Building
A single base building at the foot of the Gully will house catering, toilet first aid and maintenance facilities, and a garage for a piste machine. It will provide shelter in the most unlikely event that the shuttle-bus road is blocked.

Access
The single-track shuttle-bus road will be just under 2km long. The shuttle-bus system will be an extension of the service which has been provided for several years between the car parks at Coire Cas and Caire na Ciste-and over a similar distance-using the Chairlift Company's own buses and snowclearing equipment. Apart from emergency services, no other vehicles will use the road.

The shuttle-bus will stop on request anywhere along the road. This will open up the fine low-level nursery slopes along the line of the road and will enable the full length of the run down the Coire at t-Sneachda burn to be used-at present this is closed when skiers cannot regain Coire Cas on snow.

Visibility
The building, uplift machinery and shuttle-bus road have all been carefully sited for minimum visual impact. Computer-generated intervisibility studies have been used extensively in developing the layout.

Finally of course, it is the declared policy of the Cairngorm Chairlift Company that the access road and all the facilities in Lurcher's Gully will be completely closed outside the skiing season.


Lessons from 1981
The outcome of the 1981 Public Inquiry was in effect an invitation to "think again and come up with a better scheme" for westward expansion at Cairngorm.

So how do the new proposals differ from those turned down in 1981, and how have the objections made then been taken into account?

Then....
In 1981 the proposals would have catered for 4,000 additional skiers in the Northern Corries of Coire an t-Sneachda and Coire an Lochain, as well as Lurcher's Gully

...and Now
Today's proposals will cater for only 1,200 skiers in Lurcher's Gully itself, with a few hundred beginners on the new nursery slopes. These will not be additional skiers, but spread from other runs.

In 1981 new car parks were planned for an additional 1,000 cars, which would have added up to 4,000 skiers to the slopes.

Today there are no proposals to create new car parking, so maximum skier capacity will not be increased.

The 1981 proposals included ski-lifts. ski-tows and buildings in the two Northern Corries of Coire an t-Sneachda and Coire an Lochain.

Today there are no such proposals. The Cairngorm Chairlift Company recognises the conservation value of the Northern Corries, and their use by mountaineers, walkers, and cross-country skiers.

In 1981 the ski-tow in Lurcher's Gully was planned to run prominently along the ridge, and the buildings were visible from many angles

Today's proposals conceal the ski-tow within the Gully, and the single multi-purpose building has been kept at low level. It is sited in a hollow where it is naturally shielded from view.

The new plans differ from the 1981 proposals both in scale and in sensitivity-much smaller scale, and much greater sensitivity to impact on scenery, the environment and other users of the area.