This piece by Cameron McNeish in yesterday's Sunday Herald has nothing very complimentary to say about Scottish skiing - he expresses concern about the environmental impact at Glenshee - but he ends his article with the following plea:

"With three government departments sharing an interest in the future of Scottish skiing – sport, tourism and environment, surely it’s time for the first minister to take a lead and call for discussions to begin."

Is he right?

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Post Edited (10:13 hrs on Mon 23 Feb 04)

Where does he get off? !

Firmly moulded in the hills should be for a small number of environmental acitivists with narrow minds who also climb and no-one else camp... !

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cameron McNeish did a similar article in last weeks strathy newspaper the guy is a total ass-the frightening thing is his narrow minded views get wde spread coverage and no other pro snowsports/mountain biking get the same press to put their points accross

Cameron McNeish is the dude who advocates removing all the cairns from the top of Scottish Munros....

Nuff said.

I think he must ramble more in this article than he did on the walk! Why try and make a point about Ski Centres scarring the hills in Winter when for most of the year there is no snow at all but the centres are still there - “scarring” away. Ridiculous argument! What he is really trying to say, in a roundabout way, is he doesn’t like Ski Centres so get rid of them!

Whatever the opinion of his opinion McNeish is a succesful publicist who is recognised by the media. He is a journalist by trade so he knows how it works.

Imagine the hack in the news room. Moutain story comes in. Mountains...McNeish.... Lazy journalism, yes in that they don't reality check the stuff he says, but easy journalism. I was a journalist once so I am not trying to denigrate hacks. That's the way it works

The snowsports industry needs to be able to offer a credible, accessible mouthy commentator too!

As for the Sunday Herald article, I suggest that folks write in rebuttals. The more the merrier, the more the chance of one being selected for the letters page. Send em one of the magnificant picture. "On the same day that McNeish doommongered Scottish snowsports, Glencoe was alive and kicking even attracting French visitors and Nevis Range was de dah di dah. "

While the Baxters and McKenna are good for PR they are not on the scene and can't give rapid response.

Representative groups like the Ski Clubs etc are, by their nature, not good at outbound or responsive media with a personality.

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McPish is well known in hillwalking circles for spouting crap....doesn't represent the majority of hillwalkers....... his munro book is probably more responsible for the scarring of the hills by encouraging people to all ascend by the same routes. He takes himself a bit too seriously.

"He takes himself a bit too seriously"

All the more reason to burst his balloon by pointing out inaccuracies and inconsistencies.

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"He takes himself a bit too seriously"

All the more reason to burst his balloon by pointing out inaccuracies and inconsistencies.

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The title of this thread is a contradiction in terms. "first Minister"- "action" - who are you kidding?

Just to lead on from what Andy says--Cameron MacNeish is a total parasite who has made a comfy living for the last few years from Mountain Sports. As a self commited Christian with his "I am right" attidude, he is certainly not acting in a Christain way to the people that these Mountain Sports support. When I have cooled down I will read the article in the Herald. And if you are reading this MacNeish-----who did remove the cairns from Geal Charn above Balsporran Cottages at Drumochter ???? and---- I have seen you using the Cairngorm Chairlift on a few occasions. And finally, you were given a freebie on the train--to give you a true perspective and understanding of the reasoning behind the project------and then you go and crap over everyone to benefit your ends.

Cameron McNeish? Hmmmm...

If you want to read some interesting stuff, check out the Angry Corrie fanzine - [bubl.ac.uk]

And do a search for mcneish - a lot of what turns up is not pretty.... allegations of plagiarism etc.

And oh yes, his obsession with cairns. Was it not McNeish that proposed setting up the "Gadarene Club" to get rid of hill cairns? Gadarene as in Gadarene swine in Mark's Gospel?

I would suggest that if he is looking to the Bible for guidance, he should check out Acts 26:24 - "Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad."

A warning to us all!! Dont get carried away!

Jim

The hillman and general outdoor 'expert' Mcneish also made some derogatory comments about mountainbiking which he claimed was too sore on his hands.
Lets face it if people were like him were in power they would rip out any tarmac road north of Perth !

quote-
"Later, looking across at the scarred landscape from the slopes of Carn an Tuirc I found it difficult to understand why the ski firms hadn’t planted more trees – trees that would have held the snow in place and would have been far more pleasing to the eye than miles of rickety snow fencing. But perhaps it’s easy to be clever in retrospect? The early ski pioneers expected snow to last all winter. They weren’t to know about global warming!"

Surley trees wont grow well up high 2000 + ft in scotland as its so bloody windy they would just be blown away. On cairngorm some of the trees at base station are over 40 years old and stand at only 6ft tall due to the harsh enviroment. Maybe he should check his facts before sputing out rubbish!

The natural tree-line in the Northern 'Gorms is around 1600 to 1700ft. Above that tree's are few and far between, and generally very low! Those Scots Pines by the Daylodge Poma and up on the Fiaciall Ridge are thought to be over 90 years old, and are only 2-3ft tall.

Mind you something in the region of 8000 trees, scots pine, as well as native decidious trees have been planted in Coire Cas. Will be interesting to see how they fair. Look around the Base Station, Daylodge Poma and the Burnside of the Carpark run.

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