For the eighth year running the visitor attraction at CairnGorm Mountain has been awarded the highest status – Gold – in the Green Tourism Scheme administered by Scottish tourism body Visit Scotland.

The Green Tourism Business Scheme, has been running since 1997 and with over 2000 members across the whole of the UK and Ireland, it is the largest and most established scheme of its type in the World. In Scotland the GTBS was developed in partnership with VisitScotland and it is recognized by UK
national government as a crucial part of its drive towards sustainability.

Cairngorm Mountain substantially consolidated its GTBS GOLD award with highlights from the audit including praise for its UV treated water, ecological waste water treatment, excellent mountain interpretation, good visitor recycling facilities, local crafts and the use of recycled paper.

Of particular note were the continued development and promotion of the Snow White project, habitat development and preservation and their ‘leave no trace’ practices. The assessors noted that considerable efforts had been made to make the business more sustainable with ongoing projects to improve facilities and a very good working action plan related to all things sustainable which they are continuing to develop and update.

It’s great to see that CairnGorm Mountain have maintained their status and more importantly continued to work and progress.   

With accreditation schemes – particularly when you have attained the
highest level – it could be easy to rest on ones laurels – but clearly CairnGorm has not.

 
 
Scotland’s five mountain ski areas report another good snowsports season, with close to 290,000 “skier days”, the measure which allows one season to be compared with another and is the basis for calculating the value of the industry for the country.

“This figure is around 25% ahead of the average for the previous three seasons, which included the outstanding season of 2009-10,” said Chair of ski-scotland Heather Negus. “That season was amazing, and we knew that we’d be unlikely to match it, particularly given the exceptionally warm spring weather in April.”

Excepting the 2009-10 “mega season”, the latest results are the best for a decade, and are good news not only for the snowsports areas themselves, but also for businesses in the locality. Using currently available data, from November 2010 until April 2011, at least £29M was spent by skiers and snowboarders, of which around £22M was spent in local accommodation, eateries, pubs, shops, attractions and filling stations. 

Veronica adds “these figures show the value of skiing to local economies in areas that would otherwise struggle to obtain this level of income in winter.   Responsible Skiing is all about ensuring as many of the economic benefits stay local as possible.”
 
 
Now in its fourth year, the Big Spring Clean became even bigger with new resort Glenshee introduced to the mountain clean-up operation last weekend.

The annual initiative forms part of the Ski Club's Respect the Mountain campaign that has been running since 2004. Over 80 litter-picking volunteers showed up at the Scottish resorts of CairnGorm Mountain, Nevis Range and Glenshee and worked hard to clear the rubbish that lingered after an epic winter season.

44 sacks of rubbish were collected across all three resorts by skiers, walkers and dedicated litter pickers. All sorts of unusual items were found amongst the general litter and waste including: a pair of boxer shorts at Cairngorm, a mattress and a 'message in a balloon' at Nevis Range. The balloon was from Milngavie Primary School, over 100 miles away.

Kate Thorman from the Ski Club of Great Britain, who organised and co-ordinated the event said,

 "The Big Spring Clean has yet again proved to be a success. We had decent weather, a good turnout of people, and most importantly plenty of litter was collected across all three resorts. There was a real feeling from the local community that they were glad people had come along to do their bit and that they cared about the mountains we all love."

Caroline Stuart-Taylor, Chief Executive of the Ski Club, also commented,

 "We were thrilled to expand the Big Spring Clean to include Glenshee this year. The operation continues to raise awareness about the damaging effects of dropping litter in a mountain environment. We hope to make a clean sweep of all five Scottish ski areas in the future."
 
 
The Ski Club of Great Britain's annual resort clear up, the Big Spring Clean, returns to Scotland for a fourth year on Sunday 12 June. This year volunteers will not only be tackling the litter left on the slopes by mountains users at CairnGorm Mountain and the Nevis Range but also, new for 2011, at Glenshee.

"As part of our ongoing Respect the Mountain campaign we wanted to increase awareness of the environmental issues faced by resorts at the end of the season" explains the Ski Club's Emma Bebb. "Extending the Big Spring Clean to Glenshee is a positive step to spread that message even further and the clear up operation really does help the resorts tackle the problem of winter waste".

Last year 122 helpers turned out to gather up litter at CairnGorm and the Nevis Range with a total of 60 bags of rubbish collected.

One item that crops up far too frequently in these clean up is cigarette butts.  There is a simple way around this – for example the Ski Club has recently launched a new eco-friendly portable ashtray, made from recycled, recyclable and biodegradable materials.

Veronica adds “These clean ups occur in most resorts at the end of the season.  Despite all the bins and recycling centres that resorts install up in the mountains by the lift stations, people still litter.  There is still much education about Responsible Skiing to be done to get us to a situation where we no longer need these.”
 
 
CairnGorm Mountain has been given a gold award in the Green Tourism Business Scheme for the seventh year running.

The Scheme has been running since 1997 and with over 2000 members across the whole of the UK and Ireland, it is the largest and most established scheme of its type in the world. The aim is to ensure that UK tourism remains at the forefront of sustainable tourism in the future. There are over 150 individual measures in the criteria, which focus on 10 different areas.

CairnGorm Mountain’s first assessment took place in 2004 and in its most recent assessment achieved a score of 80% retaining its Gold Award and the report noted that “Good developments are in place since last audit.”

Highlights from the recent audit include UV treated water, ecological waste water treatment,  recycling facilities and the generation of electricity back and its supply back to the National Grid when the area’s funicular railway’s downhill carriage is full and the uphill car is empty at the end of the ski day.

Veronica Tonge notes “It’s great to see a range of measures being put into practice and being improved upon year on year.   It also shows that no matter how small or large a ski centre is, the principles of Responsible Skiing can be integrated into operations”

 
 
 
 
Work has commenced on the building of a new café bar restaurant at the base of the Nevis Range mountain gondola, near Fort William, which will help operators cater better for the diverse demands of its growing customer base - sightseers, skiers and snowboarders, and mountain bikers.

Located at the foot of Aonach Mor the restaurant will replace the existing small coffee shop (the space for which is being used to expand the resort’s ski rental business), now more than 20 years old, and is due be opened in summer 2011 ahead of next year’s ski season. 

Built with laminated wooden beams and faced with local larch the new £390,000 restaurant will have a contemporary feel and command great views of the mountain.  The project will also incorporate a state of the art biomass wood fuel boiler to heat the new building and adjacent offices, helping the Nevis Range to further reduce its carbon foot print.

Veronica adds “it’s great to see the use of Biomass here in the UK.   It is an excellent form of energy and highly applicable to mountain areas that often readily have access to the Biomass – which is essentially waste wood chips – from commercial forestry.   It has been widely used in Austrian resorts and can make an enormous reduction in CO2 emissions”.
 
 
With the longest ski season in Scotland’s history with CairnGorm Mountain operating at weekends in June, ski-scotland is already evaluating the benefit of what has been a phenomenal season.

Since the season started in late November, Scotland’s five mountain ski areas have had 373,782 skier days, the best result since winter 1995-96. The previous best over the last 15 years was season 2000-01 with over 366,000 skier days, and it is only recently that ski-scotland has realised this figure has been beaten.

“All winter, we realised we were heading for a great season,” said Chair of ski-scotland Heather Negus.

The ski season is estimated to have generated at least £37.5M for the Scottish economy, at a time of year when tourism businesses are generally quiet. This great result is not only good news for the ski companies; research shows that for each £1 spent “on the hill” at a ski area, a further £3 is spent off the hill.  Therefore over £28M has been spent this winter by skiers in local accommodation, cafés, bars, restaurants, shops and filling stations.

“All the ski areas have been delighted to see other local businesses thriving this winter,” continued Heather. “Everything really came together for us – we had lots and lots of superb snow, which kept on coming, some truly amazing overhead weather giving ‘bluebird’ conditions, and, because there was also snow elsewhere in the UK, people realised that the Scottish Highlands did have skiing and snowboarding to rival the best and they came here to enjoy it.”

Veronica Tonge notes “This is a really important example showing just how much downhill skiing can contribute to the local economy and why it is so important – it can help create viable year round businesses in places where there are often not too many options. “

“Many skiers often forget about the great skiing and landscapes available on our own doorstep!  And getting there has never been easier with fast or overnight train services throughout the country”.
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In its third year, the Big Spring Clean, a mountain clearing initiative from the Ski Club of Great Britain, has again proved a success with hundreds of volunteers heading to the Scottish mountains to clean up rubbish after an epic winter season.

At Nevis Range ski area near Fort William on the west coast there were 46 volunteers who picked up 17 bags of litter, including many unusual items ranging from a New York bus ticket found by eight-year-old Robert Thorne from Inverness, who found a near 20-year-old Marathon wrapper when cleaning up Cairngorm a year earlier, to a tin of sardines.

At CairnGorm Mountain ski area above Aviemore, south of Inverness, people who had spent part of the day on the ski slopes, as well as plenty of walkers and dedicated litter pickers came along to pick up over 50 bags of litter. Around 80 people joined in the event on a fine day in the mountain resort.

Katie Gotla from the Ski Club of Great Britain who co-ordinated the event at CairnGorm Mountain said, “Once again we have had a successful day of litter picking and have made a positive contribution towards the mountain and its habitats. As well as clearing the mountain from potentially damaging rubbish, organising the Big Spring Clean is also a fantastic way to raise awareness about the effects of dropping litter.”

Veronica Tonge notes that most resorts have to invest a lot of time at the end of the season to clean up – cigarette butts are one the main culprits and can pollute a lot of water where they fall.   Small tins are available for smokers to take their litter with them off the mountain to dispose them correctly.   “Not dropping litter is basic really – one of the most simple things skiers can do to keep the mountains pristine.   If no-one dropped litter, there would be no need for clean-ups such as this”.