Wednesday, August 21, 2002
It’s hard to believe that it’s 40 years since skiing, in any formal sense, began at Cairngorm, an activity that was to transform the life-style and economy of Badenoch and Strathspey for ever. Those early pioneers, successors to an even earlier breed from the 19th Century, have left a legacy that present and future generations of skiers can view with pride and admire the way in which snowsports facilities at Scotland's premier winter sports centre have grown, and continue to grow, to meet new and changing demands.
The opening of the ski road from Glenmore to Coire Cas in time for the 1960-61 season was a major breakthrough for what was then an embryonic winter sports market in Scotland. But, ironically, that development, in turn, created further problems, for access was suddenly available to hundreds of new skiers who would never previously have considered a two-hour slog up the mountain from Glenmore.
Hundreds of new enthusiasts, happy to walk the half-mile uphill from the newly built car park at Coire Cas, crowded onto the narrow white strips and patches in what was not a memorable season for snow cover and chaos looked inevitable with the sudden influx. Sadly, Bill Blackwood’s two rope tows were insufficient to cope with the demand created that year by the new accessibility to Cairngorm.
Having an access road without a proper chairlift or towbar had certainly been a negative element in developing skiing at Cairngorm and something had to be done quickly to rectify it. A public appeal for funding to create a chairlift was made and while plans were being laid, Cairngorm received a huge publicity boost when HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, curious as always to see what all the fuss was about, decided to take a look for himself during an official tour of the Highlands.
Volunteers shovelled snow from the higher parts onto the lower reaches of the White Lady; some young skiers - and not so young - demonstrated their proficiency and the Duke saw for himself that skiing at Cairngorm was a reality. The national press turned out in their droves, and thanks to the media coverage generated across the UK, that single visit meant that millions of others also became aware of Cairngorm and its winter sports potential.
Shortly afterwards, with construction already started but not progressing as quickly as had been hoped, the Cairngorm Winter Sports Development Board appointed the legendary and much-missed Bob Clyde as its General Manager. In turn, Bob brought some of his old climbing pals from the Craig Dhu mountaineering club, men who were well accustomed to working in blizzard conditions at high altitude, to make sure that everything would be in place for the start of the new season. Tommy Paul, Harry MacKay and Bill Smith joined Bob Clyde and it was largely due to their efforts that on 23rd December 1961, the first Cairngorm Chairlift - built at a cost of £42,000 - was opened.
The sport that had its faltering beginnings among a few diehards, some native Scots, like Myrtle Simpson and Frith Finlayson, others immigrants, like Karl Fuchs and Hans Kuwall, but all of whom were prepared to trek into the hills in search of snow, was on its way. Within a few short years, it not only transformed winter sports in Scotland but also created a massive commercial business out of what had begun as almost a cottage industry.
Other ski tows and chairs followed, mostly initially focused on The Shieling, a building that had been provided by Boyd Anderson and his Cairngorm Trust “…for the shelter and use of skiers, climbers, hill walkers enjoying healthy recreation in the Cairngorm mountains”. As lifts and tows expanded into Coire Cas, and then into Coire na Ciste, the towns and villages of Badenoch and Strathspey were transformed, not always successfully, to cater for the fresh influx of visitors. Ski shops and schools grew up quickly, hotels and boarding houses developed year-round markets, the A9 gradually, if somewhat slowly, improved and The Spey Valley became synonymous with winter sports in Scotland.
The Sixties were not only the start but also the period of most spectacular and dramatic growth with the creation of the somewhat controversial Aviemore Centre and the more controlled expansion of some of the other villages, such as Carrbridge, Nethy Bridge, Boat of Garten and Kingussie. Uplift facilities on the hill also expanded to cater for a fresh new market as the Scots - as well as their English and Irish neighbours - took to ski-ing in their thousands. Weekend bus traffic on the A9 during winter increased dramatically while, simultaneously, and somewhat ironically, rail services were being reduced.
The Seventies brought additional expansion into Coire Na Ciste in 1973, ski clubs sprung up all over Scotland and beyond, and a new generation of skiers came into the sport through an expanding national schools' programme. That, in turn, produced champions like
Stuart Fitzsimmons, Alan Stewart, Ann Robb, Garek and Andrew Begg, Konrad Bartelski and Peter Fuchs, the local hero who was tragically killed in his prime in a road accident just as the decade ended. Expansion was in the air to match the growing sport and talk of developing into other parts of the Cairngorms led to the first of several conflicts with environmental groups over Lurcher's Gully.
Into the Eighties, and despite the proposals for Lurcher's Gully being refused, the sport continued to expand in quality as well as in quantity. For The Eighties, under the watchful eye of Toni Wimmer, produced a fresh crop of home-grown champions like Ross Blyth, Roddy Langmuir, John Clarke, Alan White, Lesley Beck, Moira Langmuir, Kirsten Cairns, and Graham and Martin Bell. It was also the period when major Scottish commercial companies, such as Tennents and Bell's Whisky, realised that ski-ing was big business and their sponsorship enabled CairnGorm to become not only a national racing arena but also an international centre. FIS races were held regularly, involving visiting teams from Yugoslavia and Norway, as well as individual racers from Spain, France, Italy, Austria and Germany.
This was the era when Strathspey buzzed with apres-ski activity, when hotels and pubs expanded in size and in number, when the larger-than-life Oscar Panzerolli ruled The Badenoch Hotel resplendent in his white suit, and when Arthur McLean and Donnie Morrison - alias The Trampies - skied all day and then played every night of the week at a different venue on the basis that you could not hit a moving target! Even BBC's Ski Sunday, with David Vine at the helm and Stuart Fitzsimmons producing the action pictures, went out "live from CairnGorm, Scotland".
The early days of The Nineties sadly coincided with the death of Carrbridge's Karl Fuchs, who, for many, was the "father of Scottish ski racing". It also witnessed the progressive development of Nevis Range, with its "new age" gondolas, and the continuing expansion of Glenshee, both of which, coupled with some disastrous years of disappointingly poor snow, underlined the need for CairnGorm to re-shape itself. Some of the local villages were beginning to look tired, the 30-year old equipment on the hill was beginning to show its age and, as happens, peoples' aspirations changed. Yet the sport remained very much alive and well, albeit that Scotland's emerging torchbearers of the late Nineties, such as Emma Carrick-Anderson and Aviemore's Alain Baxter, and Lesley McKenna were more likely to be plying their trade in the Alps than on their native hills.
Clearly something quite special was required to re-focus attention on CairnGorm, something that would not simply be a replacement for the ageing chairlifts but would broaden the appeal of the area and revitalise it totally. That proposal, involving the creation of the CairnGorm Funicular, first saw the light of day seven years ago and is now nearing completion just in time for the start of the next decade of skiing at CairnGorm
It is a Herculean task to try to summarise 40 years of activity and, almost inevitably, there will be gaps and generalisations. Some people and events will have been missed out; other items will have been distorted through the passage of time and the tricks of memories. But for those who shared in any, or all, of those 40 years, everyone had his or her own CairnGorm Experience.
The rest, as they say, is history … but this year, the 40th anniversary of the first White Lady chairlift, sees a dramatic change with the replacement of the Car Park and White Lady chairlifts by a high-speed funicular railway. No longer will the journey take 25 minutes, excluding the time spent in queues, and instead the new funicular will whisk skiers from the new Base Station at the Coire Cas car park to the new Ptarmigan in some six minutes. Probably of greater significance, the funicular will carry up to 1200 passengers per hour at almost double the present rate and in comfort out of shelter of the elements.
It may not be the end of queuing but, with such a dramatic increase in the rate of uplift, queueing will certainly be much less of a feature at Cairngorm than it has been for decades.
The opening of the funicular for the coming season is yet another milestone in the development of Scotland’s premier winter sports area and is as much a tribute to those visionary pioneers who thought nothing of walking uphill for six miles in the middle of winter to enjoy their sport. Their energies, imagination and commitment have enabled literally millions to enjoy the experience of Cairngorm and the new funicular, by creating a new attraction for summer visitors, will provide millions more with a unique and different mountain experience for future generations.
ends
Note to Editors: Tania Adams, one of Scotland's top skiers of the early Eighties was a member of the British Junior Alpine Squad between 1981 - 1984. Tania was a member of Edinburgh University's Ski Team from 1984 -1987 and was one of the first women to compete in the Anglo Swiss University Ski Championships as a member of the British Universities Team. Tania learnt to ski at Bearsden Ski Club (Glasgow) and spent her winter seasons on the slopes at Glencoe and CairnGorm Mountain. Tania and her brother - Crerar Adams - were coached in their early years by an honours list of UK skiing names including: Hans Kuwall, Jimmy Smith, Allan MacKenzie, Hugh Clarke, Davina Galicia, Ingie Chistopherson and Ali Ross. Tania is a BASI Grade 111 instructor and throughout the late 80's and early 90's was actively involved in the Downhill Only Ski Club junior race training programme.
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