Nevis Range Celebrates 20 Years of Skiing and Riding

News Release / 19.12.2009

On Saturday 19 December 2009 Nevis Range will celebrate its twentieth anniversary. It reopens for its winter season exactly twenty years after it first opened its doors on 19 December 1989. Originally operating as a ski resort, the business has grown and diversified since that day. Today it is a major player in the Scottish tourist industry and contributes significantly to the Outdoor Capital of the UK.

The mountain gondola, the only one of its kind in Britain, was originally constructed on the slopes of Aonach Mor as a way to transport skiers to the pistes. However, from day one, the gondola became a highly acclaimed visitor attraction in its own right, attracting around 200,000 visitors annually.

To celebrate this great milestone on Saturday 19 December 2009 Nevis Range will not only be offering half price gondola trips (see http://gondola.nevisrange.co.uk/site/gondola/times.asp for details) all day, visitors will also be able to enjoy an exhibition of photos and memorabilia from the company's 20 year history, whilst enjoying a slice of delicious birthday cake - the perfect antidote to the stresses of Christmas shopping!

In early 2000, as part of the diversification of the business into an all year round resort, the business created a downhill mountain bike track with gondola uplift that has hosted seven Mountain Bike World Cups and in 2007 hosted the UCI Mountain Bike and Trials World Championships. The downhill track is widely celebrated as a classic, one of the toughest physical and technical tracks, on the UCI World Cup circuit and has firmly put Nevis Range and Fort William on the world map.

In 2009 Nevis Red, a new red graded cross country trail with gondola uplift was opened and the number of leisure mountain bike riders more than doubled during the summer months.

Marian Austin of Nevis Range said: 'The past twenty years has been both exciting and challenging. We can't pretend that the ski industry has been an easy ride, but after twenty years, we're still in business, and we still offer winter skiing and snowboarding as well as many other activities.

'As part of the diversification of the business into an all year round resort, we opened the first downhill mountain bike track in 2000. The new Nevis Red trail, opened this summer, is not only an integral part of our plan to grow the business, it has also opened up the hill to competent cross country mountain bikers. It's a good fit with the already popular Witch's Trails cross country tracks in Leanachan forest at the foot of Aonach Mor.

'Today, we continue to employ some staff members who have been here since the beginning. As a business located in the 'Outdoor Capital' we are continually working to provide outstanding outdoor experiences for our visitors. We have our sights set firmly on the future and are working to improve existing facilities. We also have ambitious expansion plans that will add even more activities for our visitors over the next couple of years.'

For more details on Nevis Range go to http://www.nevisrange.co.uk