Cairngorm open for skiing and boarding

Cairngorm is now open for sking and boarding, weather permitting. There is a pisted run down to the middle via Traverse, 105 and Zig-Zags. Gunbarrel, M1 and White Lady have also been skiable but are unpisted so care should be taken. The lower slopes are not advised due to very thin cover and rocks!

No equipment hire is available until 20th November when the hire in Level 3 of the Day Lodge will be open. We can run private lessons by demand, but as we are quiet it is essential to book. Phone our office on 08455 191 191 to make booking.

Ready for a great winter!

We all can't wait for this coming winter season. We have had bits of snow on the hills, but still not enough for snowsports, however it is still very early. All our preparations are aimed at being ready to go from the start of December when we have staff induction and pre-season training.

If you are wanting to book please phone or use our online booking system.

Birmingham Ski Show

We have a stand at Birmingham ski show this weekend (29/30/31 October) so if you are planning to attend then please come and see us on stand 10.6, and pick up a leaflet (hot off the press!).

In order to attend, we have been supported by Cairngorm Mountain, VisitCairngorms.com, MacDonald Hotels and Ski-Scotland.com so we can also give information on the other ski resorts, and have a stock of leaflets for those wanting more information.

2011 Leaflet

Our 2011 leaflet has now gone to the printers and so we should have them in 2 weeks, ready for the Birmingham Ski Show, as well as to distribute in the local area. A pdf of this leaflet can be seen through the title link or on the front page of our website.

Snow on the hills!

There has been a bit of snow on the tops and we are getting ready for the winter. We will be at the Birmingham Ski Show at the NEC on 29/30/31 October, so if you are there come and visit us.

We have just employed a new office manager, Nicola, who is busy getting to know how we work, as well as painting the office! Over the next few months leading up to christmas we are busy getting leaflets out and setting up new procedures.We are also planning to install a new booking system to make it all work more efficiently, and hope to do that soon.

End of season

The ski season has finished for another year, although Cairngorm has stated it will open each weekend if there are enough customers to make it worthwhile. We will not be running lessons from now on, although could run private lessons by prior arrangement. Please phone our mobile if you are interested.

Many thanks to all our staff and customers who have helped make this season one to remember! We have employed 75 staff and taught skiing and snowboarding to around 7000 customers since December 2009, which is a new record and probably makes us the UK's largest ski and snowboard school!

We have received a huge amount of positive feedback about our instruction and staff, and we will use this over the next 6 months to make us even better for next year! We are currently involved with developing new Quality awards for snowsport schools in conjunction with tourism and awarding bodies and with them we aim to help improve the quality of delivery of ski and snowboard instruction throughout the industry, and to ensure that schools do not use any unqualifed and inexperienced instructors in the future.

End of season

Cairngorm has now closed for the 2010 season, however will open again for one last blast on the 8/9 May. We are offering half day lessons at £10 for beginners only, and private lessons at regular prices. Please phone the mobile to book as our office is now no longer manned regularly.

Many thanks to all our staff and customers as well as all the others who have helped to make this season successful. We look forward to seeing you all next year.

Cairngorm still open for skiing and boarding!

Cairngorm still has a lot of snow and is open for skiing and boarding each day until 3rd May. After this date they will only open at weekends if there is sufficient demand.

We have stopped running group lessons,however we are still running private lessons by arrangement. As we are pretty quiet this means it is essential to book in advance to ensure availability.

A busy Easter on Cairngorm

We have plenty of snow for a great easter weekend and into April. The entire ski area is open and all the runs are complete and in good condition. There is also ample off-piste and touring that can be done, however be aware of the avalanche risk if venturing away from the ski area.

It looks like the snow will be around for a long time and there should be good skiing and boarding well into May, although at some point the lifts will be turned off. It is highly likely that this will be due to lack of demand rather than lack of snow!

All of our instructors have seasonal summer jobs that they need to start and because of this we are only running group lessons each day until the 17th April. After this we will run private lessons by arrangement, and the office may not be manned full-time.

More snow tops up all the runs!

There has been a lot more snow and this has topped up all the runs again. Unfortunately it has created problems keeping the ski road open, however once the storm passes the conditions should be superb again.

We are running lessons every day until the 17th April, and ater this we will only run private lessons by arrangement (as most of us move on to summer jobs!). Despite this it seems very likely that the conditions will remain good past the end of April, and Cairngorm are considering plans to open the ski area into April.

Th annual Cairngorm instructors race was due to run on the 30th March but has now been rescheduled for the 7th April.

Great conditions on Cairngorm

The continued good weather has meant a great week on Cairngorm. We have been really busy with people heading up having seen the blue skies and sunshine! We are also teaching the local primary schools programme every week during March giving all Primary 6 pupils an oportunity to experience Cairngorm and either skiing or snowboarding. However the snowfall last week left huge snowdrifts across the track (see picture) and Cairngorm has had a team of diggers on it all week. It looks almsot clear so we hope it will be back on soon.

The snow also caused problems clearing the road for a while. The picture is of Claire (office and snowboard instructor) and Amanda (Manager and both ski and snowboard instructor) by the wall of snow on the down road, which is now 2 way as the link road has been blocked for quite a while. I saw the snow blower cutting its way down it this afternoon so let'd hope that opens soon as well. When we got up the hill after the latest snowfall we found so much snow that a lot of the tows and buildings had to be dug out.

I was speaking to Hans Kuwall who has been skiing and instructing on Cairngorm since the 1950s, and he suggested that this season compares with 1978 for a lot of snow, however he thinks that this season may have more snow! Let's hope this is a change that will carry on in the future.

Best snow for decades!

Cairngorm has had more fresh snow to top up the runs. Conditions are the best for years and we are riding runs that don't usually exist!

We have just come out of the busiest half term period any of us remember. We had around 60 instructors working each day and we had been fully booked for weeks. The weather and snow conditions were excellent which helped everyone have a great time. There were a few glitches with the train breaking down but despite this the week went very well.

We have now started the local schools programme, where local primary children get the opportunity to have a 4 week block of skiing or snowboarding. Our next Snowlimit weekend programme also starts this weekend and we will have over 100 kids each weekend on it.

Hedre is a photo of Cairngorm and Loch Morlich taken on the 22nd February. Since this we have had a lot of new snow!

Almost full for half term!

We only have a few spaces left for lessons at half term and it is essential to book for this period.

If you are having trouble getting through to us then please note that we only have one phone line and if it goes to voicemail then it means we are answering another call. Please do not leave multiple messages as this is also slowing us down in returning calls.

Snow conditions are brilliant with full cover all over the hill, however this is also making it very busy. If you have lessons with us over the half term period please try to ensure that you are with us by 8am each day to ensure that you get parked in the car park (honestly we expect it to be that busy)!

Good snow conditions

Many thanks to everyone who helped Cairngorm today by helping to dig the train track out from the humungous snow drifts that have covered it over the past week. Thanks to your efforts as well as all the Cairngorm team, who have been at work many hours a day, it looks like the ski area will be open from tomorrow. However there is still plenty of work to be done, so initially we should expect only a limited area however, as tows are dug out and wires put on, we should get it all going.

Some of my photos I took today (17th January) are below. I was working on the big drift above the middle platform. Some of the area we are working on is usually where you would go from the White Lady under the train track to go to the M1 poma, so that might give an idea of how much snow is in this drift!

There is a train track under there honestly!

Some of our instructors digging

Looking down the track towards the middle platform as a piste basher pushes snow off the track!

Looking up at the next big drift (there are more above that one)!

Ian Whitaker, Cairngorm Mountain Chief Executive, wielding a shovel

Still digging the ski area out after the storms

Cairngorm are looking for an army of volunteers with shovels to help dig out the ski area tomorrow (Sunday 17th January).

Here is a picture of Amanda on the link road today (16th January).


















Here is a picture taken today looking up at the White Lady and M1 ski runs above the middle station, clearly showing some of the drifts that will need to be dug out tomorrow.

Lots more new snow so digging the ski centre out!

Cairngorm has received a lot of new snow this week, and this has arrived in a storm with lots of high winds. This has meant that they have spent all week digging out the road from Glenmore to the Day Lodge. They have brought in large diggers to help the snowploughs and piste machines do this, however the road continues to fill in as fast as they clear it, while the wind is high. Hopefully the wind will die down soon and then any damage from the storm can be assessed as well as the start to digging out tows and buildings. The picture below shows the major drifting that has taken place over the last few days, including the number of snow drifts covering the train track. It is clear there will be a lot of work to do once the road is clear and customers need to be aware that this is going on and everyone is working hard to get the ski area open.

As we can't access the ski area we have had to cancel all our lessons this week. We hope to get back to business as normal next week, although with a lot more snow!

You can ski and board anwhere!

There has been some great skiing and boarding on Cairngorm over the past few weeks, with superb powder and good conditions. Due to the great snow Cairngorm has been extremely busy and so we would recommend that customers are aiming to be on Cairngorm early, especially at weekends.



If you want lessons then we would recommend booking to avoid disappointment, as we have also been very busy. We are struggling to keep up with the quantity of phone calls and emails that we are receiving, and if you just get voicemail then it means we are already on another call. Please help us by only leaving one message, and we will get back to you as soon as we can.