Firstly, it’s good to know that some of our skiing customers are as passionate about skiing on Cairngorm as we are. We have a strong culture of welcoming feedback and using this to guide our decisions.

Indeed, it is exactly this approach that has been recognised in the recent national awards that we have won, and which provides such positive results from our online customer surveys.

I wish to kill the idea that we are not interested in the long-term future of skiing at Cairngorm, and that there is some sort of hidden agenda to stop skiing. This is utter nonsense. The last thing we want to do is stop skiing. We continue to commit to investment in skiing every year, with, of course, no guarantee of any return, and this year is no exception.

There has also been a suggestion that the company may have been operating in an unsafe manner by not running the Ciste Chairs in recent years. This is quite wrong and totally unfounded. There are simply no questions marks over the safety of any part of our operation, including the evacuation of any part of the ski area in the event of an accident.

The future of skiing will be determined by the climate, and we will continue the successful strategy of diversifying to guard against the nightmare scenario of a “no snow” winter. This strategy is the best way of sustaining skiing in an increasingly unprecedented period of climate change.

Despite the handful of doom-and-gloomers predicting a self-fulfilling prophecy of skiing decline because of management decisions on Cairngorm, we continue to increase our market share of Scottish skiing. Our customer feedback tells us that this is partially as a direct result of shorter queues for most of the lifts and a policy to offer the best skiing service that conditions allow.

This season, and for future seasons, we plan to operate in exactly the same way as last year, with the same uplift but with the addition of our new trainer tow. For clarification, the Ciste chairs, the Aonach poma and the Fiacaill ridge T-bar have not been operated in recent years for purely economic reasons, and we don’t plan to operate these lifts this year. It is also worth noting that last year the overflow car park in Coire na Ciste was used for only four days.

The Forest Commission Scotland is currently collating consultation process feedback on the handover of the Cairngorm Estate, including the potential to remove tows not currently in use. We look forward to enjoying many years of skiing at Cairngorm and looking after our customers.

BOB KINNAIRD, Chief Executive, CairnGorm Mountain Ltd.

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