Cairngorm, Scotland to open for snowsports Saturday

Dust off your skis, Cairngorm is opening for winter sports! On Saturday, Dec. 1, skiing and boarding will be available on the upper part of the mountain with the Ciste and Polar Express tows operating and the funicular making middle station stops. Weather permitting the resort will remain open daily for snowsports thereafter.

About 30cm of snow has fallen on the pistes of the Ciste fairway, on the traverse, the 105 and the zig-zags. Cairngorm has been deploying the four snow guns it is trialling this year in these areas to build up a base in the areas which are subject to the most scouring.

Last year the resort opened 10 days later than this and two years ago it opened two weeks earlier so the resort’s marketing manager Colin Kirkwood reckons this year they are bang on target. He is encouraged by the number of season ticket holders who have already renewed their passes in anticipation of the season and also buoyed by the resort’s inclusion in the list published this week  by Tripadvisor of the 15 resorts in Europe providing the best value for snowsports.

Lifts will start running at 9 a.m on Saturday and, in view of the number of runs available, there will be special ticket prices of £25 adult, £18 student and senior and £15 junior. 

The funicular will also be running for visitors to CairnGorm Mountain’s Christmas market in the Ptarmigan top station which has already attracted over 6,000 visitors.

The Cairngorm ticket office will open Saturday at 10 a.m. and the first train will head up the mountain at 10:20 a.m; the last train up will run at 3:30 p.m. and last train down at 4 p.m. The Mountain Shop, Cas Bar, T-bar and Camera Obscura are open from 9:45 a.m.

Season passes are now available for collection from the ticket office.