Nevis Range is now working towards reopening in July, the resort said as Scottish Government lockdown restrictions looked to be set to ease.
Staff at the snowsports, mountain biking and outdoor activities centre have been working to put new safety measures in place, including thermal screening, increased cleaning procedures and, of course, social distancing.
Both foot passengers and cyclists using the mountain gondola will be asked to wear face coverings when it opens.
Chris O’Brien, chief executive at Nevis Range, said the move is provisional and dependent on guidance.
He said: “We have been working closely with the Scottish Government since the start of the lockdown, with advance notice of a re-opening date a top priority for us.
“We are understandably extremely pleased to be able to announce that Scottish Tourism Businesses will be able to reopen on July 15. We have also been led to believe that the new guidance for Phase Three will specifically mention gondolas and chairlifts when it is published."
READ MORE: ‘Tough decisions’ ahead for Cairngorm following years of financial struggle
He conitnued: “However, I would stress that this official date is provisional and could change if there are any flare ups with the virus. As soon as Nevis Range is able to confirm an opening date, we’ll get that out over all of our social media platforms.
“Whilst an opening date is very good news, all of the challenges that we face will remain the same. The initial phase means we can open; the two metre social distancing rules will remain in place; eating in our restaurants will be possible but the two metre social distancing rules must be observed; and mountain gondola travel will be in singles or for groups of two or more that have travelled to Nevis Range together and customers will be asked to wear face coverings.”
He said: “When we do open, due to the nature of the financial crisis that we find ourselves in, we will be operating on a Wednesday to Sunday basis, making exceptions around bank holidays, and we plan to carry on with this five-day week operation throughout the rest of the summer.
“Over the next few weeks, we will start to advertise Nevis Range products and bookings in conjunction with all of the new measures that the business will be taking to ensure our compliance with current guidelines."
Mr O’Brien added: “Very sadly there will be some redundancies at Nevis Range as we try to return to a sound financial footing in order to keep delivering quality outdoor activities and events for all of our customers all year round.
“Despite all of the challenges and tough decisions we are having to make as a direct result of the Covid-19 pandemic, there is still a mood of cautious optimism amongst the team. Whilst many of our projects have been cancelled due to funding pressures and a catastrophic loss of revenue, we are continuing with our Blue Bike Track, a new blue graded, uplift accessible, trail and hope to have that open in May 2021.”
It said analysis of Nevis Range’s annual customer data suggests the centre attracts around 75% of its annual visitors between May and September – Mountain Biking, including the UK round of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup.
The Covid-19 lockdown also came at the worst time for Scottish Snowsports enthusiasts who would have had some of the best spring conditions in years at Nevis Range.
With a good amount of snow falling in March the centre had more than enough coverage to offer snowsports activities well into May, it said.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article