Cairngorm ski resort gets ready for 50th birthday
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6 / 6There is expected to be skiing on offer over the Christmas and New Year holiday at CairnGorm Mountain, which is preparing for a double celebration this Friday.
The day will mark the 50th anniversary since the opening of the White Lady chairlift – the first commercial uplift on the hill – and also the 10th anniversary of the Cairngorm funicular railway.
The resort has said there were more than 2,000 skiers out from Friday to Monday inclusive and they are hopeful conditions will continue.
CairnGorm Mountain spokesman Colin Kirkwood said: "The forecast is for temperatures to rise today (Wednesday) and Thursday, and then continue with a freeze/thaw cycle, but we expect to continue to offer snowsports right through next week.
"The only day we are closed over the Christmas and New Year holiday period will be Christmas Day itself."
Ski bosses have invited season ticket holders aged 75 or over to meet for a buffet lunch on Friday, while on Boxing Day ski patrollers will be performing their duties in period tweed costumes.
Celebrations will continue on March 3 next year with a CairnGorm 50 day with a ski 50km in a day challenge, an early evening terrain park and a torchlit descent of the mountain – all in kilts.
Mr Kirkwood said: "This is an important milestone in the history of snowsports at Cairn Gorm.
"On Friday it will be 50 years to the day since the first commercial mechanised uplift at Cairn Gorm was inaugurated, and 10 years since the funicular railway opened.
"Some of the people who have been associated with the hill throughout that period or longer – many of whom are still skiing here – will be coming to join our celebrations and have their reminiscences recorded."
Aviemore resident Andrew Ker has skied at Cairngorm for over 50 years, and recalled how the early enthusiasts had to walk up four miles with an ascent of 2,200 feet to enjoy their sport.
He said: "In the late 1950s the route to Glenmore from Aviemore was just a forest track as far as about the Hayfield. That was as far as cars could go, so we humped our skis – wooden with no steel edges and ‘strap-you-in’ bindings – up a path from there to where the car park is now, and then to the top of Coire Cas.
"We used to ski down the Cas a few times, carrying our skis back up each time, and at the end of the day down to the edge of the snow, usually somewhere just below the current car park area. We then walked the rest of the way back down to the car."
The White Lady Chairlift was dismantled in April, 2001, to make way for the £20 million mountain railway.
