In the latest news letter CML to start guided
MTB tours off the train to Glenmore. I for one never saw this coming. It a start working within defined guidelines and aimed at a certain market and I am sure there will be a lot of winging about how limited the offering is but it is a start which is the real plus on this initative
It will be two tours a day school holidays and weekends later in year.
From smartphone so excuse typos etc

That's why the traverse/ 105/zigs/ is in pristine condition. All the drainage ridges across the route have been filled in and the surface rollered . Good news for the ski bases in marginal conditions.

I'm also pleased to see this in their news letter....
Take the funicular up and go bird watching

CairnGorm Mountain has arranged to license guides to take groups out on bird-watching walks

Under a CML Licensing scheme experienced birdwatching guides will be able to take their own groups of up to 10 people out on the hill from the top station after travelling up on the funicular. Hitherto birdwatching groups have had to walk up the hill from the Base Station if they wanted to get out to see birds higher up the mountain, but they will now be able to use the funicular to access these birdwatching areas if they go with a licensed guide. They will have to remain within the ski area boundary which extends to the summit of Cairn Gorm but will be free to move about within this area whilst remaining on the CairnGorm Mountain path network but without the constraints of being with a CML guided walking group.

Licenses will be personal not corporate and every license holder will be required to go through an induction with a CairnGorm Mountain guide before the license is issued. There will be no charge for the license but there will be a charge per client taken on a birdwatching guided walk. Account facilities will be available



Helen

Helen, The Bird Watching is looking to becoming a niche Market, I noticed that the Grant Arms Hotel in Grantown is geared up for twitchers - big difference from the heys days of the Queen and Charlie Chaplin visitng.

I always knew that would be a good plan. Amazed that they have got it up and running without any prior notice. Great news, but I can't help thinking that this defeats the initial point of the ciste chairlift plan. Yes it's only limited, but rules have clearly been adapted to make this work so what's stopping them from adapting a bit further?

Anyway it's great, I'm just a bit sceptical of the whole MTb thing at Cml. But you all know that.

hmm,i guess it's a start, but £40, guided down a glorified fire road in a doubtless huge (and probably slow) group, and can't use your own bike/gear? i think someone's rather missed the point.

surely this (and every other guided scam up there) must be in violation of the VMP anyway, so they may as well ditch it and just take us up there to do our own thing, guess there's less revenue in that though eh?

it almost seems like they're looking to use this as an excuse not to take the ciste plans further, offer a limited and restricted option, then say the lack of demand for that "proves" there's no market for "real" MTB in the ciste? but maybe i'm just being overly cynical (they did do good this winter after all.....)

At £40 a pop, i don't think the groups will be that big !

It has been identified in several places that CML has a problem getting repeat visitors (apart from snowsports). What is being described here is hardly the sort of thing that people will keep coming back for. I suppose one school of thought is that it becomes a new attraction, so will make some people want to come back and try it next time, but once tried, I'm sure most people would want to do their own thing thereafter.

And they can come back and use the Ciste trails when completed - i think that will still go ahead.

>And they can come back and use the Ciste trails when completed - i think that will still go ahead.<

Anything to back that up or is that just your hunch? (genuine question - information seems pretty thin on the ground)

i'd certainly hope so, and as a beginner option to complement the ciste trails which i think we're all assuming will be glencoe/nevis type setup, it makes a lot of sense. in fact grumping about it aside, i reckon i'll take the wife to do it next time we're up that way. definitely not something i'd pay to do twice though, unlike say £20 a pop for a ride up with my bike to go wherever i like.

does anybody know if there's a reason they stopped it at rothiemurchus rather than aviemore proper? coffee in the ptarmigan > bike > pint in the town would be more of a winner in my book! and on that note, if i ride up to the ptarmigan, can i nip in for a coffee or is that not allowed?

I guess you could take bus up from Aviemore to Cas Carpark and get it back to Aviemore from wherever the actual tour stops - read sonewhere that it was aviemore - so more clarity there needed.

As to continuiong with the Ciste - I dont have any concrete evidence just think that it is the usual slow proces.





Edited 1 times. Last edit at 18.16hrs Fri 6 Jul 12 by daveski.

Yes, there is a 'walkers' entrance, you may need to ring the door bell to get in though.

Is there also a 'bikers' entrance for walkers?

[feeling facetious. sorry]

I am pretty sure they will ask bikers to leave there bikes outside and walk - thereby meeting the citeria for "walkers entrance"