Cairngorm closed by snow
Monday January 18, 2010 - Email this article to a friend

The access roads have proved difficult to keep open and in some places there are reports of snow drifts up to 5m deep.

The lifts up on the ski runs have also been buried by the snow and have been difficult to keep open.

Special vehicles have been bough in to try to clear all the snow from the roads.

A message on the resort's we site explains the situation.

Cairngorm web cam, Friday morning"The mountain and all faciities, access roads and car parks will be closed on Friday to allow digging out after major drifting during the storm."

The resort goes on to advise people to check the weather before setting out over the weekend if thye are planning on going skiing.  There are also no staff on site to answer the telephone and the voicemail message is out of date.

"It has blocked our access roads with about 15ft of snow and further up the mountain the drifting has buried our funicular railway track in about 10 places, and the tunnel mouth, and some of our ski-tow towers are just sticking out of the snow," says Colin Mathews the operations manager for the ski resort.  He was speaking to the BBC.

Glencoe is also closed.  The resort says it is because of high winds.  While The Lecht too remains shut due to the stormy weather and the access road is closed because of snow drifts.  Nevis range and Glenshee are open though.

A further strom is expected to come in tomorrow, Saturday, with winds gusting up to 100mph in places and then the weather will clear a bit according to forecasters.

For up to date information see www.winterhighland.info

It is all a long way from the talk in recent years of rising temperatures leading to an end to skiing in Scotland. 

This Christmas/New Year the resort did very well as we have already reported on PlanetSKI and it follows a good winter season last year.

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