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No skiing at Scottish resort -- too much snow
London (AFP) Jan 15, 2010 Skiers found the slopes at a Scottish resort closed on Friday, not because the snow was sparse, but rather there was too much of it, the resort's managers said. Cairngorm Mountain in northeast Scotland more often deals with a lack of snow but this year it is grappling with a different problem -- 185 centimetres (73 inches) of snow since Christmas in the worst bout of winter weather since the 1970s. Resort staff toiled all day Thursday to clear snow, but they arrived back Friday to find their hard work was in vain after strong winds blew snow across access roads, creating 15 foot (4.6 metre) high drifts. "We have come in this morning and it feels like groundhog day -- all our work yesterday has been filled in again," said Colin Matthew, the head of ski patrol. "The mountain and all facilities, access roads and car parks will be closed today to allow digging out after major drifting during the storm," he said. The resort's snow ploughs cannot even get through the drifting and it has had to hire special heavy diggers, said resort spokesman Colin Kirkwood, adding it could be Monday before the resort reopens. But despite the temporary closure, Kirkwood said this year's harsh conditions had provided a welcome boost for business at Cairngorm, which faced controversy in recent years after a funicular railway ran well over budget. "We're about 300 percent up on the point we were at at the same point last year," he said. Cairngorm, Britain's sixth highest mountain, is one of the main resorts in Britain's small ski industry north of the Scottish border, with 10 lifts and 30 kilometres (19 miles) of ski runs. Most of Britain has seen substantial snowfalls over the last month, in the country's severest winter for decades, although warmer temperatures in the last few days have melted much of the snow and ice further south.
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