all change at the top of cairngorm

Thu, Jul 8, 2010

Since its inception in 2001, the Cairngorm funicular has barred access from the top station to the plateau, mainly due to the 2.7m quid they’d have to repay the EU as letting visitors out of the train and onto the hill was forbidden due to the terms of the European funding element. Then last year they ran a trial that let walkers make their own way up the hill and take the train down and now, the inevitable has happened. Walkers will now be allowed out of the top station and onto the hill. Apparently this won’t affect the 2.7m pounds clawback as the designated fragile areas are 1.5Km from the top station, despite the entire Cairngorm plateau having a few Natura 2000 sites.

But it’s not as bad as it sounds. It looks like it’s going to be a ticketed system, where you can book a return funicular and guided walk package for the bargain price of 13 pounds. Considering a day’s hire of a Mountain Leader (ML) can cost you anywhere from 70 to 120 pounds, that is indeed a bargain. According to the company, a maximum of 140 bods per day could be doing the summit walk package but from the telly report, it’s starting at 7 walks per day with a maximum of 10 per group.

I can’t really see erosion becoming a major problem as the route to the summit is on an existing path and rockier ground nearer the summit. Folk won’t be allowed to just get off the train and wander. They’ll have to book on a guided walk to the summit with a knowledgeable leader. The alternative doesn’t really stack up. Can you imagine letting inexperienced folk just wander willy nilly on the plateau, the most extensive area of Artic Tundra over 4000 feet in the UK? You could imagine a family wandering across the easy contours to the east towards Ciste Mhairead or somewhere and not getting back in time for the last train down. Weather closes in and they don’ know what to do. Doesn’t bear thinking about but it’s clear the company has thought about it as they’ll have made appropriate risk assessments of where they intend to lead these folk.

Of course, the Bearded Conservation Bods are up in arms about it but if you look at Cairngorm in summer, there is very little conservation. The ski runs are open sores for much of the year so I’m not sure what they’re complaining about. They seem to want to leave everything as it is but people are an integral part of conservation and education is the best way to spread the word about what this country has in terms of wild land that really does need protection.

In 1903 John Muir took President Theodore Roosevelt into the Yosemite “wilderness” to explain what wilderness was, what the problems were that were threatening the wilderness and how wilderness is good for the human condition. The result was the birth of national parks and conservation. So we mustn’t forget that the Cairngorms National Park exists because of one man taking another inexperienced man into wild land.

Leading people to the summit of Cairngorm should be seen in the light of a homage to John Muir’s vision of educating people to what is on their doorsteps and making them aware of just how precious these places are and how they contribute to the well being of all people. No-one is going to advocate conservation of an area they’ve never seen or know very little about. Let’s hope the leaders have a future Roosevelt in their group.