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What Next

Well it has been all go this last week or so with a few spanners in the works, just to remind us it is not all powder snow and sunshine here on the mountain. After last week's blizzard, we discovered at the top station an outside vent, linked to the hvac system, had blown in. Consequently spindrift snow found its way into a particulary critical part of one of the funicular drive systems, control gear. Without boring you all with the detail, the result was we could only run with one drive, instead of two, This meant we could only run at half speed on a 20 minute schedule.(NIGHTMARE). Then on Sunday past, the M1 haul rope suffered terminal damage. Not sure how it happened, but a significant lenght of the rope got chewed up slightly!(NIGHTMARE 2).

I guess our international phone bill has exceeded our free minutes now, but the outcome is; the new inverter part for the funicular arrived yesterday, installed, and the train is back to full speed operation. Contrary to a "reliable scource" quoted elsewhere, I am happy to say that a new drum of 2500M Poma haul rope, was collected from the french factory today at 3.15 pm. Our freindly trucker who helped us with the winchcat delivery this time last year, has pulled out all the stops in trying to get this cable to us as soon as possible. Pretty amazing considering France pretty much stops to day for the holidays. All being well, the cable should be with us on Thursday The team are ready for round the clock working to get the old cable off, new one on, spliced, tensioned, and NDT inspectors are booked for Saturday morning. So with a bit of luck and Santa spirit, we are hopefull of having the M1 back in action pretty soon.

Also a big thanks to Graham at Glenshee. They had a new 16mm rope sitting there, and had offered to us, but unfortuneately at 2000m it was just too short for what we needed. Cheers any way lads.

On another note, the team have spent all day over in the Ciste side, pisting, patching, winching and shovelling. The result being we hope to have the West Wall poma operating sometime tomorrow.

I think we should survive this temporary mild spell that is on the way, and with luck get through the festive period with no more major dramas.

I will post an update when we have more news.

Cheers

Colin 

Comments

Submitted by colin on Friday, 30-12-2011.

Hi Russ and Kim
Hope you have a safe trip up, I have been laid up the last few days with a nasty bug. On full strenghth anti biotics now, so hope to be back up soon. I imagine the boys will get the snow gun fired up soon as the temps drop again. There are more snow showers forecast today, so i hope it will be enough to get some more uplift open soon. I believe the Cas will operate today.
Have a great Hogmonay.
Cheers
Colin
Submitted by n1russ on Thursday, 29-12-2011.

Hi Colin, will be making the 12 hour drive up towing the caravan leaving essex tomorrow night so heres hoping for the weekend!!!, looks like you might have one or tow runs open!!

Have you guys managed to get the snow cannon fired up now the temps have dropped?

Best Wishes for New year

Russ & Kim
Submitted by sandman on Thursday, 29-12-2011.

And don't forget Ruaridh's flickr account! I must say, the one thing I've noticed is the sheer amount of work you people up there are doing these days compared to my glory days in the 70s. Its a different place, to be sure. I remember when me and my equally stupid friends were skiing the headwall above the Cas tow when nobody else would even try. On 215cm skis. Days gone by, eh? Say hi to Tanya for me.

Submitted by colin on Wednesday, 28-12-2011.

Hi Sandman, wishing you also a Happy New Year. Apologies if my comment came over as sarcastic. We had just worked 18hrs straight, getting the new M1 rope in to position, plus a heavy cold coming on just before Christmas did not do too much for my humour! I guess if people just visit the site through the blog page they may have been unaware of the conditions we now face.We now use this site, Facebook,You Tube, local and national radio and the blog to get information out to as many people as possible so hopefuly we should not miss too many people, but i will keep it in mind.
What part of the world are you in anyway? I hope it is sunny, as this wind and rain is a nightmare.
I am sure the snow will be back soon though.
Cheers
Colin

Submitted by sandman on Wednesday, 28-12-2011.

Thanks for the reply Colin. I understand your sarcasm, but maybe you should remember that SOME people are looking at your blog from VERY far away. If I was living at my parents house I could just look up the hill and see for myself what is going on. But I'm not, I'm 9,000 miles away, and truth be told, my trips back to Speyside these days rely very much on the information you provide.
So, you don't have too many disappointed people. I can only surmise that they used resources other than yours to get info on conditions.
Sorry if you don't see that as a problem. Maybe we should just agree to disagree on this one. But for someone who's been skiing Cairngorm since the early 1960s, I look to your blog and your site for up-to-date information.

Peace to you and a very happy Hogmanay!
Submitted by colin on Monday, 26-12-2011.

Nobody up today demanding their money back so i guess MOST are well aware of our current conditions.
Happy Camping
Submitted by sandman on Sunday, 25-12-2011.

I'm looking at the Winterhighland webcams and seeing basically NO snow. Yet your blog is telling people to "come on up!" What the hell?
This could be a very valuable resource and a BIG boost to numbers on the hill, but my GOD! If I believed your information and drove all the way up there on your good account, only to find a few wreaths of remaining slush, I would be demanding my money back.
If you are going to run this site properly, at least have the courtesy to keep it updated! Not a happy camper!
Submitted by colin on Friday, 23-12-2011.

Thanks Pavel, hope you have agreat Christmas too.
Well the wind looks like it will pose a problem over the next few days, so we will have to it and see about the skiing. If we are lucky we should hang on to what we have snow wise, as we have lost a considerable amount of snow cover over the last few days.
Fingers crossed
Cheers
Colin
Submitted by pavel on Thursday, 22-12-2011.

Hi Colin,
Sounds like you guys are having a handfull up there. Fingers crossed for you, you get it all fixed soon and get to enjoy the festivities.
It looks like it might be a wash out on Sun and Monday. Any closer info whether it may turn to snow up on the hills or does it look like it will rain all the way? We are coming up for Christmas. So it may be more eating and drinking rather than exercise on the mountain :(
Anyways we are looking forward to coming as always.
Merry Christmas to you all on the mountain. Hopefully see you up there skiing...
Cheers Pavel