This was brought up in another topic that Glenshee had got rid of the Corrour Poma. The main lift that has been removed was the more or less redundent Grianian Poma on Sunnyside, this has failed to catch snow in recent years, and even when it did, had a very poor snow holding record, and given that it ended pretty much in a bog, it's removal will have little effect on the real capacity of the Sunnyside lifts. The old Trainer Tow has been removed also, though not used last season, this may be missed on busy days where the Claybokie can see big queues.

I gather that the Grianian Poma has found it's way to the Lecht, and is the lift currently being installed on the Eagle Run, not been able to get this confirmed, if anyone knows, tell us! Also the rummor persists that it is to be called the Eaglet! lol!

A final thought on Glenshee's lifts, please return the Tiger Tow to T-Bars!! Not only is it very annoying on busy days to stand in a queue knowing the lift's capacity is half what it used to be, but during the period when it had a mix of buttons and T-Bars I always found it to be considerably easier to ride as a T-Bar? Anyone else agree??

allan im sure the change to pomas from the t bar on the thunderbolt life was something to do with health and safety ....could be wrong though


as for the grinain poma that could have been used to replace the beag = slooooooooooow tow to meal o'dhar and the cafe

just a thought.


lets hope this season is a bit better :-)

ps good to see winterhighland back

The Tiger T had to be changed due to an accident and H&Safety required change to buttons.

Its meant to rain here in aberdeen starting sunday for at least a few days. so hopefull it will fall as snow opn the mountains, opening up glenshee after xmas. well i hope so anyway! im desperate to go up now! im off university until feb 4th!

Hi there,

Just to clarify the situation, I actually e-mailed Glenshee when I first noticed the missing lifts.

The trainer has "reached the end of it's life span" and the Grianan "has been open only a few days in the past 5 years due to lack of demand".

The e-mail continued "We intend to usue the equipment to upgrade existing tows." so I'm not sure what this means for the Grianan moving to the Lecht.

Cheers,
Christopher Paton
Edinburgh

Not sure if it's been brought up since, but the Tiger tow has disappeared from the Glenshee piste map - has this tow now been add to the RIP list too?

Hope everyone is enjoying the season as I look on enviously after moving to the South of England :-( Will be the first season in over 10 years when I havn't skied unless (and hopefully it wiil) the snow lasts thru April. Enjoy people. I have the snodome in milton keynes to remind me of what i'm missing. ha!

The Tiger Tow is still in situ but minus part of it's drive which has been put in the Cairnwell T-bar. Tiger Tow though is in excess of the maximum permitted gradient for sufrace lifts, however unlike the EU cableways directive on new lifts, it is not enforcable here, so there is no reason for it to not operate in the future, though Glenshee may consider that there is a liability risk from it?

The Tiger Tow is not the only drag lift to exceed this gradient, but it's the most sustained and the only one not currently operational.

>>though Glenshee may consider that there is a liability risk from it?

was speaking to someone at Glenshee yesterday and they said for safety reasons the T-bar isnt running, because of steepness -and an accident a few years ago.
so HSE is a big reason for it not being used.

Given the Choice of the Cairnwell Chairlift or Tiger T-bar, I know which I would choose and it wouldn't be the chairlift!! If the Tiger Tow isn't going to run again, something really will need to be done about that Chairlift, but if Glenshee get's some money to do anything infrastructural, then there are much higher priorities.

Unless there has been some kind of notice slapped on Glenshee by the Health and Saftey Executive re the Tiger Tow, not running it because of a past accident isn't a good precident to set. There have been some spectacular, and sadly on occasion nasty accidents on the M1 Poma and Lady T-bar. All mountain sports carry some degree of risk, and people have to accept that.

For those that can ride/ski the Tiger piste compentently, riding the Tiger T-bar should be well with in their ability.



Edited 1 times. Last edit at 14.13hrs Sat 18 Mar 06 by alan.

I think people should be allowed to make their own assessment of their ability vs potential harm if things go wrong, but I can understand why the increasingly litiginous culture in the UK might make Glenshee think differently.

I have very clear memories of seeing someone come off near the top of the T bar, then sliding pretty much the whole way down the track, taking out a fair few victims en route.

Bearing in mind that we'd all agree that any snow sports are potentially dangerous, does anyone have views as to whether a snow sports operator is liable for the consequences of people falling off a lift that may be a little too steep?

Not a legal expert, but the land reform act should offer protection for land owners and lease holders from legal action from those who get injured partaking in outdoor recreation on their land. This would seem to provide for a situation where the Ski Areas should not be liable for a skier crashing on a piste any more than an ice climber who has a fall, thus liability of the ski areas should relate only to useage of uplift where the ski area, and not the lift user is at fault.

In terms of the Tiger Tow, it would be up to the area to provide warning that the tow was difficult and only suitable for real experts, and in case of hard snow conditions to provide a suitable warning. Keeping lifts and terrain closed in case people get out of the depth is not somewhere we want to go.

Just to update on lift situation; am not bothered too much by Tiger-GM & a full CF contain enough variety to keep me satisfied. However, the official word on Caenlochan is the motor burnt out around 2pm Sat. They worked most of the evening & Sun. morning to get it going but no dice. Why ther'e not enough T-bars from the above lifts to get the T-bar at Caenlochan working is beyond me! Not least seeing as they invested so much pisting on that fantastic bit of terrain.

What I think they should really do is put in another trainer tow next to the existing Claybokie . The propsosed chair from the ticket office up would give a beginner pass more credibility & perhaps disencourage folk with advanced snow-ploughing ability to even think about trying CF..Together with also giving the Lecht a run for their money?

I can't really get the rant up to full steam as I've just had a blinding weekend playing over at GM.

The Coire Fionn always seems to fill in well and hold the snow well too.

Perhaps if they every get a chairlift heading over that way to provide more reliable uplift then they should also consider adding a few more fenced runs down Coire fionn - in similar style to what the lecht have coming off the chairlift.

Has the Odhar caff opened yet?

Apparently so.