Early January blizzards and gales meant a slow start to the skiing season at Scotland’s CairnGorm Mountain but there’s a real buzz in the air as February’s Half-Term breaks gets closer with more snow forecast. And that has to be good news for lots of families wanting to head for the Scottish hills with lots of excited youngsters eagerly wanting to try their first experience of skiing and snowboarding.
With its well-deserved reputation as an ideal place to learn to ski and board, CairnGorm has always been one of the main visitor destinations in Scotland during February with a steady influx of visitors from the northern parts of England as soon as the schools close. After all it was on their local ski slopes that international stars Finlay Mickel, Alain and Noel Baxter, and Lesley McKenna learned to ski and that is as good a recommendation as any for learning to ski at CairnGorm!
But the area now offers much more than skiing with lots for families to see and do on the mountain, in nearby Aviemore with its new Aviemore Highland Resort, recently built on parts of the site of the former Aviemore Centre, and around Glenmore, Loch Morlich and Rothiemurchus. Visitor attractions of special interest to family visitors are scattered right across Strathspey and Badenoch and include The Strathspey Steam Railway (as featured on BBC’s “Monarch of the Glen”), The Highland Wildlife Park at Kincraig, The Highland Folk Park at Kingussie and Landmark at Carrbridge. And all of this within the spectacular setting of The Cairngorms National Park.
At CairnGorm Mountain, the funicular railway offers a very special mountain experience, regardless of snow conditions, taking skiers and non-skiing visitors from the Base Station at Coire Cas to the Ptarmigan - with its exhibition, mountain shop, bar and restaurant - in only a few minutes. The new Cas Bar within the Day Lodge has added an extra dimension to après-skiing at CairnGorm, either at lunchtime or at the end of the day, while The Ptarmigan Restaurant offers quality food in a self-service environment with some of the country’s most spectacular views as a backdrop.
CairnGorm is very much a family skiing area and repeat visits by a steady stream of regulars has always been a significant element in the area’s success. With a dedicated ski and snowboard schools on site, learning in your own language could not be easier with teams of professional instructors. But that doesn’t allow any room for complacency, particularly when there is a clear need to react to a changing market.
As Tania Adams, the company’s Marketing Manager explained: “Because of climatic uncertainty and global variations, Scottish skiing cannot afford to make any assumptions or take anything for granted. Diversification has become a by-word for us and we look on every challenge as a positive opportunity for delivering improved customer service.”
This philosophy is underpinned by delivering maximum customer satisfaction in both the short and long term and introducing flexibility within changing conditions to ensure that each visitor, both skier and non-skier, enjoys their individual CairnGorm Experience to the full. Reducing queues, improving uplift and the possible introduction of on-line ticketing are all positives for this season at CairnGorm and demonstrate this forward-looking approach.
But CairnGorm Mountain is now much more than simply a major winter sports centre. Diversification has turned it into a year-round visitor destination and on Hogmanay, with no skiing on offer, almost 1,600 non-skiing visitors travelled to the top on the CairnGorm Funicular to enjoy the hospitality and magnificent views.
Said Bob Kinnaird:
“We are always interesting in providing new attractions at CairnGorm and the Mountain Garden and Mountain Art Gallery are good examples of this. Re-opening the Cas Bar within the Day Lodge was in direct response to popular requests and, in only a few weeks, it has become very popular among skiers and winter sports enthusiasts as well as with our ever-increasing numbers of non-skiing visitors. Other visitor attractions are in the pipeline and we are constantly reviewing ways in which our visitors can have a memorable experience with us that they will want to repeat.”
“Keeping customers - and potential customers - fully informed is vital in any business and particularly in marketing within tourism. Customers are travelling a long way to experience the product and our web site (www.cairngormmountain.com) provides an up-to-date information source to help them. We even use web cams to let them see what conditions are like before setting out and, not surprisingly, most like what they see.”
There’s no question that CairnGorm Mountain and its management team are ready for the February Half-Term visitors. With a whole new range of facilities both on and off-piste, as well as fresh snow, CairnGorm is ready to provide a warm Highland welcome for the annual influx of families, particularly from the north of England, over the next few weeks.
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