The boss of Glenshee ski centre is warning huge sums of public money being spent on the troubled Cairngorm funicular railway will harm Scotland’s wider snowsports sector.
More than £25 million has gone on repairs to the malfunctioning mountain railway, which opened again in January 2023 after being shut for almost five years.
Within months of the over-budget works finishing, further problems were found, meaning the funicular has been out of commission ever since.
Now Cairngorm Mountain bosses are unable to guarantee when the UK’s highest altitude railway will be back in service.
‘Money is being wasted’
David Farquharson, who runs Glenshee, said too much money has been spent on Cairngorm at the expense of other ski centres across Scotland.
He told us: “Money is being wasted. It’s money that’s being thrown in there without any thought to the rest of us.
“It’s hugely frustrating for us. All the focus is on Cairngorm. At the moment it’s so unequal.”
Cairngorm Mountain is owned and run by a subsidiary Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), a public body of the Scottish Government.
That’s unlike many ski resorts across the country – such as Glenshee – which receive smaller sums of public cash but are privately operated.
Mr Farquharson said a more equal pot of cash should be distributed to ski centres instead of Cairngorm being given so much priority.
He claimed it was “anti-competitive” for the Scottish Government to allow so much taxpayer money to be funnelled into one venue.
The Glenshee resort, located between Blairgowrie and Braemar inside the Cairngorms national park, gets some public funding from Scottish Enterprise instead of HIE.
The business – which is Scotland’s largest snowsports centre – received just over £1 million since 2015, a huge contrast compared to Cairngorm.
The Cairngorm funicular – which opened in 2001 at a cost of £19.5 million – has become a focal point for much of the criticism levelled against HIE.
But other projects at the resort include:
- £475,000 in 2022 for a mountain biking development.
- £780,000 in 2021 to refurbish the mountain’s Ptarmigan restaurant.
- £1 million in 2018 to purchase snowmaking equipment.
An initial report claimed it would cost just over £16 million to repair the funicular, which ended up being a huge underestimate.
Mr Farquharson believes at least some of the money going to Cairngorm could help futureproof other ski centres at a time when the industry faces major challenges.
The other venues are Glencoe, the Nevis Range and Lecht.
David Farquharson said Glenshee could work wonders with funding. Image: Steve MacDougall/DC ThomsonMr Farquharson said: “We can only dream of what we could do for tourism on this side of the national park if we could get one fifth of what’s been spent at Cairngorm over the last few years.
“What we could do with £10 million would be absolutely amazing. Give us the money to diversify, and we’ll be here for years and years to come.”
If that cash were made available, Mr Farquhason would make a number of improvements to Glenshee, including building a new cafe and buying more snowmaking equipment.
The ski centre boss would like to see a new funding model introduced for the industry and does not believe HIE should be running Cairngorm.
Campaigner Gordon Bulloch, who lives in Grantown-on-Spey, is among those warning the funicular rail is “doomed to failure”.
He said resorts like Glenshee were only getting “the crumbs off the table”.
“The whole snowsports sector is in crisis” he said.
“If Cairngorm keeps getting the subsidies, and nowhere else does, we’ll end up with one ski centre.”
He added: “It’s a shame for all these other ski centres that have worked so hard to keep themselves viable. Whereas Cairngorm just says they need more money.”
He added: “The other ski centres are doing tremendously well to keep their heads above water.”
Year-round attraction
A spokesperson for HIE said Cairngorm Estate is a year-round, family-friendly visitor attraction for the wider Aviemore area.
“In addition to the area leased to Cairngorm Mountain Ltd, we invest in ranger services, an extensive path network and a range of other environmental works across the estate,” HIE said.
The Scottish Government said it is committed to supporting winter sports including Glenshee Ski Centre with “substantial funding”.
A spokesman added: “The decision to invest in the reinstatement of the funicular was taken after a review of the full business case which set out the economic benefits to the wider region.”
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