Just heard that the base station cafe etc at Glencoe were gutted by fire this morning. Pretty devastated for the team there that have put in so much hard work. Hoping that the ski hire area has survived so they can keep the place running over the winter and hopefully get a re-build under way next year.
Shit news.
They really put the effort in there, shame.
Yeah just found out, gutted for them. As you say hopefully it's only that part that's been hit and they can keep running in the meantime.
Oh for ****s sake.
That's shit.
Cairngorm fair enough,but not the mighty one....
Agree with the sentiments above.
Real efforts made in recent years, hope the snow comes soon and all will be open.
Glencoe and Glenshee are my favourite Scottish ski spots, authentic 'old skool' feel.
Who'd be passing by at 4.30am?
Glencoe Mountain can be seen from the A82, the main road in West Scotland.
I would expect the road to be quiet but not a surprise that someone was driving at that time.
Quite possible that folk were parked up for the night, especially as they have hook-up points.
Oh man that sucks
Who’d be passing by at 4.30am
They have on site camping pods plus loads of camper vans rock up.
Part of the car park is also being used as a base for some construction going on so probably an on site security guard there
the base station cafe etc
Report I read said it was the cafe that was destroyed. Ticket sales bit salvageable.
The actual access lift is in a separate, albeit close by building
they do have a fire alarm system.
From their Facebook
"Fire update - at 2am last night the Base Station Building at the resort caught fire and despite the very best efforts of 6 fire crews was almost completely destroyed.
This means the centre will be completely closed to the public tomorrow 26th Dec while we make the structure of the building safe. All ski lessons for tomorrow are cancelled and accommodation bookings for the 26th Dec are also cancelled as we currently have no power to the lodges (we will be working over the next few days to remedy this). All our comms are also currently down so apologies if we are difficult to get hold of over the next few days.
We hope to be able to re-open for skiing, snowboarding and sledging (weather permitting) on the 27th Dec. Updates to follow tomorrow.
Thank you for all your messages and offers of support, they are massively appreciated by us all."
The photos look a right mess.
Gutted for them but they will survive ! Best way to support is go there when the snow is in.
A fire engine from Lochgelly went all the 105 miles two and a half hours away, would it not make more sense to move each crew to the next station when that happens?
Are they insured? Anyone started a crowdfunder?
redmex
Member
A fire engine from Lochgelly went all the 105 miles two and a half hours away, would it not make more sense to move each crew to the next station when that happens?
Coverage up there is really thin- quite a lot of volunteers too. Probably if they sent one that far it was because all the nearer crews were tied up.
Many places in Scotland and some of them quite large have volunteer crews. They might do the emergency initial response but I reckon for a long duration incident it would make more sense to send a crew from somewhere with more alternatives.
We plan to re-open for skiing, snowboarding and sledging tomorrow (weather permitting). Forecast is for a moderate SE wind and frequent showers falling as rain at all levels. We have been continuing to make snow (see picture) so should be plenty of snow on our sledging slope. What ski runs we can open will be dependent on the overnight weather. Ski patrol will review in the morning. Ski school and ski hire will be open. Please note we currently have no base station cafe and have a temporary ticket office. Please bring cash if you can as most of our card machines have melted. Our accommodation, showers and toilets now have power but please note if you are staying with us you will need to be more self sufficient than normal.
(From Facebook)
dont be confusing volunteer crews (unpaid) with retained crews (paid).
Crew rotation is a big thing now given the remoteness of the incident IC's need to plan ahead for this, well they should be.
I saw on the Facebook. Sad news 🙁
From radio Scotland this morning - yes, they are insured. Ski-ing is on and they hope to be running a more limited cafe from a Potakabin which will be in place for the rest of the season.
Wishing them all the best, the place is great and they are really nice people