THE Cairn Gorm mountain railway and ski centre is to be transformed into a major world-class adventure destination rivalling those of the French Alps under ambitious plans unveiled yesterday.
Upmarket holiday firm Natural Retreats UK is to invest more than £6million over the next five years to transform the centre into a leading year-round attraction to resemble the likes of Chamonix.
Top of the expansion list is a new day lodge, nursery slope and a dry ski slope. The plans also include building an activity centre, new shops and restaurants, and offering a full day of activities apart from winter sports.
The Winslow-based luxury travel firm said the revamped attraction would bring thousands more visitors and attract world-famous snowsports competitions.
Development agency Highland and Islands Enterprise (HIE), which owns both the mountain railway and its present operator CairnGorm Mountain Ltd (CML), has agreed a 25-year lease to transfer ownership of CML to Natural Retreats for an undisclosed sum.
The holiday firm runs self-catering holiday cottages at John O’Groats, Caithness, and Tulloch in Lochaber as well as elsewhere in the UK and US.
A three-phase £6.2million development programme has been drawn up.
Phase one involves minor refurbishment of the day lodge and Ptarmigan restaurant – the highest in the UK – and a major marketing drive in other Natural Retreat locations and with tourist boards.
In the second phase the existing day lodge will be knocked down and a new, larger lodge built in its place financed by a £4million HIE loan.
The new lodge will have a floor selling outdoor equipment and clothing, a cafe, equipment hire and an activity centre containing a climbing wall and children’s play area. The new nursery slope with beginners’ lift and a dry ski slope will also be laid at this stage.
The final phase involves redeveloping the Ptarmigan building by creating a new restaurant and education centre.
The firm then plans to invest an estimated £5million over the next two decades on building maintenance and ski uplifts.
Natural Retreats chief operating officer Ewan Kearney, said: “One of the things that attracted us to Cairn Gorm was just how unique the visitor attraction was. It’s an absolutely incredible destination and our brand deals with locations in beautiful natural areas and this was the perfect opportunity.
“Our vision for Cairn Gorm mountain is to elevate it to one of the leading leisure and adventure resorts in Europe.
“We want Cairn Gorm to be known as one of the adventure capitals of Europe, like Chamonix.”
He said his dream is to bring the prestigious summer and winter X Games, currently held in Aspen, Colorado, to the resort. He added that no jobs would be lost and more would be created as the new resort takes shape, bringing in more visitors.
He played down fears in the local community that the firm had never operated a ski centre before, saying they faced a similar challenge when taking over a specialist fly-fishing destination in the US.
He said: “We understand the leisure consumer. We are going to inherit the existing team here and integrate our team with them so we will be utilising all the experience that is here.” HIE chief executive Alex Paterson said: “Natural Retreats has the vision, ambition and experience to enable the resort to fulfil its potential as a world-class visitor destination.
“Their plans include the further development of snowsports and diversification of the business into a high quality, year-round attraction.
“Natural Retreats’ ambition to attract new visitors to Cairn Gorm will produce spin-off opportunities for other local businesses in the tourism sector, especially in Strathspey.”