The Granary West Mill Street Perth PH1 5QP Tel: 01738 493 942
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The Granary West Mill Street Perth PH1 5QP Tel: 01738 493 942 ADDRESSEE ONLY Mr David Farquharson Director Glenshee Ltd Cairnwell Braemar AB35 5XU 25 January 2018 Dear Mr Farquharson Glenshee Ski Centre: access issues Mountaineering Scotland is the national representative organisation for hillwalkers, climbers and snowsports tourers with over 14,000 members. We are recognised by the Scottish government and its agencies as the representative body for these activities and work closely with a range of public, private and third sector organisations on matters of mutual interest. The purpose of this letter is to bring to your attention some unfortunate incidents which occurred during January at Glenshee which involved ski centre staff and our members who, as snowsports tourers, wished to take responsible access through the managed ski area. Such access is within their legal rights under the terms of the Land Reform Act (Scotland) 2003 and the related Scottish Outdoor Access Code. Our aim is to seek a mutually agreeable solution, and avoid the need to refer the matter of access rights through the managed ski area to the local access authority for enforcement action, in this case the Cairngorms National Park Authority. In terms of background you may not be aware that Mountaineering Scotland was instrumental in proposing a Code of Conduct for Snowsports Tourers which provides specific information about responsible access in managed ski areas. The Code was endorsed by the Association of Scottish Ski Areas in 2016 and I have enclosed a copy of the code for your information. Returning to the specific incidents which have been brought to our attention, I have enclosed the text of relevant emails from our members. Such issues were also aired on the BBC Radio Scotland programme ‘Out of Doors’ at the weekend (aired Saturday 20th January). Also, we understand from these emails that ski centre staff have offered ‘advice’ to ski-tourers which if followed, could have led to serious safety issues and quite possibly, an accident or fatality. I hope you will understand that our role here is to address our members’ concerns and ensure that appropriate provision is made to enable snowsports tourers to access routes through the ski area in a responsible way and free from the threat of confrontation and the verbal behaviour of ski centre staff, which is not only illegal but ignores rights to responsible access which snowsports tourers enjoy under prevailing legislation. As mountaineers and snowsports tourers we understand the unpredictability of the Scottish climate and that ski centres operate in a tough commercial environment and must maximise every opportunity to generate income. We also understand that many of our members ski on piste and take advantage of the facilities provided at Glenshee and the other centres around Scotland. We therefore believe that it is in everyone’s interest to seek a mutually agreed solution to access issues at Glenshee and ask that the management of Glenshee Limited endorse the Code of Conduct for Snowsports Tourers and in doing so, meet their legal responsibilities under current access legislation. If specific instructions and measures are necessary to guide snowsports tourers through the ski area, then we would be pleased to assist in the publication and dissemination of such information. I look forward to hearing from you. Yours sincerely David Gibson CEO, Mountaineering Scotland Glenshee Ski Centre: access issues emails sent to Mountaineering Scotland From: RB Sent: 10 January 2018 14:48 Subject: Ski touring and managed resorts - access issue We would like to report an access-related incident whilst ski touring in the Glenshee ski area on Sunday 7 January, and seek your views on this matter. By way of context, we’ve been ski touring within and through the Glenshee ski area for about 30 years and never encountered any issues or restrictions on our right of access. Due to the layout and scale of the ski area, picking a line through the ski area is essential in order to reach more open hill areas beyond (for example, if you were ski touring out towards Loch Vrotachan or Glas Maol). When we arrived at Glenshee, it was clear that the Carn Aosda lift wasn’t operating and there were very few people skiing down the piste in that area (as people had to walk up from one of the other lifts to reach this area). Use, therefore, was very light. We decided that one objective for the short day could be to skin up Carn Aosda. After negotiating the lower slopes to beyond the café, we skinned up the side of a virtually empty piste. About half way up, a ski patroller talked to one of the party. She didn’t ask us to change our route and also noted that there had been an avalanche on the nearby slopes of Carn Aosda and that some of the slopes were dangerous due to rocks. Shortly after, a man asked us to traverse further right (eastwards) and skin up the steeper slopes to the right of the Carn Aosda lift (i.e. pretty much to the area where the ski patroller had advised us of riskier slopes). Not wanting to spoil our day, we decided to follow the advice although it was clear that we weren’t interfering with downhill skiing. We were slightly reluctant to do this as there had been a small avalanche about 100m further right but did as suggested. Several other ski tourers were told to do the same route. Towards the top of Carn Aosda we moved back inside the furthest fence as the ground to the right had become steep and increasingly icy. A member of staff then came right up to us and told us to, basically, get out of the ski area. At this point, the lift still wasn’t working and there was only one downhill skier (some distance away). There is very little in the way of snow fencing at this point (and we were well beyond the lift line). The member of staff was pretty much “in your face” when he told us to get out of the ski area. We had a discussion for a few minutes about the new “Snowsports Touring & Managed Resorts in Scotland” Code produced by Mountaineering Scotland with the support of, amongst others, The Association of Scottish Ski Areas. When asked, he introduced himself as Willie, one of the Directors at Glenshee. The core of his argument was that the new Code gave him the right to ask ski tourers to leave the ski area and not to skin up any of the pistes or areas in between. I pointed out that we were not interfering with downhill skiing as the lift nearby was not working and there were very few skiers around. We had also followed the earlier advice (more like an instruction) to get off the virtually empty piste and beyond the snow fences. We also pointed out that the advice provided took us on to a steep slope (with evidence of recent avalanches close by) but his response to this was that this “wasn’t his concern”. He also suggested that he would have no problem with us taking our skis off and walking up the side of the piste. Given the circumstances described above and our proximity to the top of the hill, we decided to carry on the short distance beyond the lift and reach the top of the hill. At that point he said he would report us to the ‘Council’ and that he was going to take our picture, though I don’t think he did. The key issue here is about what is meant by “interference” with downhill skiing and what is reasonable in terms of advice. On this occasion, the local lift wasn’t operating and there were very few downhill skiers using the piste. The piste alongside the Carn Aosda lift is reasonably wide. In our view, we were having no impact on the primary activity. Yet we were still asked to get out of the ski area. If this is the result of the new Code then we are witnessing a retrograde development in access rights in Scotland. The Glenshee website does state that ski tourers should “…in opening hours stick outside fences…”. If this is interpreted as “outside the ski area” then that is far too restrictive in gaining easy and safe access to nearby mountains and areas of good off piste. Nor does the Glenshee website provide any information for ski tourers on best routes to follow during opening hours to skin up to Loch Vrotachan to gain access to the hills beyond or up Meal Odhar for access to Glas Maol and beyond. As noted at the start of this email, we have never experienced anything like this over the last 30 years, of which the last 13 years have been covered by the provisions within the Land Reform (Scotland) Act. The new Code seems to have provided an opportunity for Glenshee ski area to argue that ski tourers must leave the ski area even when it is clear to everyone that there is no interference with the activity of downhill skiing. In saying all of this, we would be the first to ensure that we are keeping well out of the way by skinning up the very edge of a very quiet piste and by going beyond a snow fence if use of the piste was busier. This is what we were doing on this particular day. In your article (Scottish Mountaineer, Autumn 2017), there is a section on “all of the ski areas welcome non downhill skiers”.