' ' • NOVEMBER, 1 969 - the DHO

The Frozen North
Several years ago, your Editor's keenness for the sport led him to try ski-ing in Scotland over Christmas.
Good sensible Scots stay close to home at that time of the year, and only the Sassanach ventures out onto
the bleak hills over the holiday.
Glencoe had just opened its new chairlift, but there was still an unpleasant, muddy hike ending in a
nasty scramble up some rocks before you got to the skilift. (We must add that the worst of this hike has long
since been eliminated by another skilift). We were disinclined to cart a heavy pair of Attenhofer Metals up
and down each day, so we left them up at the top, in the lift hut.
That was a mistake. The evil spirits who rule over Glencoe weather at Christmas ordained that the rest
of the holiday period should consist of rain, hail, sleet and unremitting gales. Going back after the skis
was just not on, and we left for home with them still at the top. The director of the chairlift company, D.H.O.
member Philip Rankin, promised to send them to us when the weather had let up sufficiently for someone
to go up and get them.
Having neither received the skis nor heard yet a word by mid-January, we enquired and in due course
there was related a most woeful tale.
The task of retrieving our skis was given to one Wee Willie Smith. The 'Wee' was applied because of his
roughly six-and-a-half foot length. On his way down, with one ski over each shoulder, the wind got into
Willie and the skis and poor Willie fell flat on his face. One ski remained with Willie; the other descended
the mountain at breakneck speed and to this day has never been seen again.
Recently, we had occasion to write to Philip Rankin, and his reply follows.
Incidentally, does anyone want a single, bright blue Attenhofer A15, 210 cms, in excellent condition?
White Corries Limited, Kyleven, Ballachulish
The Editor 9th January 1969
Lieber Freund,
So it's you!
Your errant ski never emerged and is by now probably at the bottom of the Atlantic via one of our wellknown
Scottish showers, or else full fathom five in a bog, which I suspect must have been what
happened at the time.
Congratulations on a first-class job on your magazine. As I know only too well of old, the task of getting
anyone to give you anything to edit once skis have been tossed with a curse in the back of the garage at the
end of season, is almost hopeless. For my part, writing has been somewhat inhibited by being on the wrong
side of the counter, from which position all the interesting things like being rude to the customers and knocking
the competition are deemed off-side, not to say bad for the shareholders—poor devils. For anyone uninhibited,
truthful and grinding no axe (does such a person exist ?) there is a good deal that could be written largely in the
vein of the Guru Powell of Manchester (or is it Birmingham?) to the effect that it is time we stopped talking a
lot of rubbish like economics don't count and it should all be on the Illfare State. The facts in the wild talk
about millions for the Cairngorms and tows for every ben that ever saw snow are that one sees advertised side
by side eight days in Scotland at 29\ guineas and Switzerland ten days 30 guineas, and that the percentage of
mugs is too low to guarantee a living out of winter tourism in Scotland.
So Glencoe last year cut tourism's throat and set out to be what—willy nilly—we are anyway, viz, a weekend
recreational centre for those able to play it like golf according to the day. We thus halved the operating cost
and on a highly efficient 2-day week with the other three spent tuning up the works, the impact on returns was
precisely nil, if not slightly beneficial. So much so that we have built another (nursery) ski tow and are full of
hopes to do better than ever. But paternal pride apart, it is still true that Glencoe remains really the only place
in Scotland which faintly resembles ski-ing above the level of a Coggins schuss. It is also the only place left in
Scotland fit to ski at all weekends, where not only do you not have to queue to get up but you don't have to
queue up to get down as well. Outside of weekends (and the Eastertime 3 weeks) anyone wanting to ski can
charter, and this looks like being quite a thing. Pssst! anyone want to hire an alp ?
I wish you great joy of your position of undoubted power. Freedom of expression for the editor and all contrary
views in the w.p.b. was the formula on which Glencoe was founded: but beware the fate of such as I taking it
too much to town. Nowadays I never even know where my skis are let alone use them. Nor, I fear, shall I ever
see dear Wengen again, truly the scene of my greatest ski-ing joys.
Yours aye,
PHILIP RANKIN
Page Twenty-three