> Thoughtful comments David, and I must admit that I have contradictory
> feelings about funiculars in the mountains. On the one hand they
> certainly do allow a larger segment of the population to enjoy some pretty
> special places, though they are not the only means of doing so: years ago
> when I worked in what was then called "adapted recreation" we sometimes
> used horses and even llamas to help folks into the mountains. On the
> other hand increased traffic does tend to mean a decreased experience
> through commercialisation, erosion, litter and even sewage. The
> Llanberis-Snowdon slog is a good example of these downsides, as is the
> route from Chamonix to the Mer de Glace in the French Alps and indeed the
> new Cairngorm funicular which decants visitors straight into an ESA at a
> projected rate of 150,000 per year(!!!).
>
> From an environmental management point of view the answer to calls for
> "inclusiveness" has generally been to allow development on one or two
> peaks and to redouble protections for the remainder. This evolutionary
> strategy has not however saved "pocket wildernesses" like Utah's Wasatch
> Mountains, though it was the ski industry and Quad-bikes that did for the
> Wasatch.
>
> Chad
> Dr Chad Staddon
> Senior Lecturer in Human Geography
> University of the West of England
> Coldharbour Lane, Bristol
> ENGLAND BS16 1QY
> TEL: (0117) 328-3214
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "David Bissell" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <>
> Sent: Tuesday, March 29, 2005 11:09 PM
> Subject: Re: Snowdon Cafe
>
>
>> Increased mobility through railway transit, and in particular mountain
>> railways, has surely been instrumental in promoting more inclusive access
>> to
>> areas of rugged and otherwise inaccessible terrain which before was only
>> the
>> preserve of the able-bodied, economically-advantaged GoreTex and Berghaus
>> brigades. Motives of profiteering aside, without the Snowdon Railway, the
>> amazing panoramic vistas consumed/enacted from higher altitudes and the
>> embodied sensual affects experienced through being with elevation; of
>> being at
>> a peak, are practices of an exclusionary place.
>> Postcolonial parallels of the 'masterful gaze' afforded by able bodied
>> mountaineers aside, to keep these places the sanitized domain of the few
>> seems
>> to echo Wordsworth's sentiments towards railway expansion into the Lake
>> District during the mid Nineteenth Century - routes which today enable
>> thousands of tourists each year to experience this special place. To
>> parallel
>> an example further afield, the Jungfraubahn rack railway in the Bernese
>> Oberland (the highest railway in Europe which was granted its concession
>> in
>> 1887) takes visitors to c3500m at the top of the Aletschglacier, Europe's
>> longest glacier - a totally amazing experience. Whilst I can imagine the
>> bodily
>> stimulation through climbing, I for one do not own crampons and am far
>> from
>> being able to afford the expensive multicoloured mountaineering gear
>> required
>> for an unassisted ascent so am very grateful for such awe-inspiring
>> engineering
>> feats as this.
>>
>> David
>>
>> Quoting Dr Nicola Shelton <[log in to unmask]>:
>>
>>> Last summer I took my 3 year old and the 5 year old daughter of my
>>> friend (another geographer) up Snowdon by train in beautiful sunshine
>>> whilst my husband and my friend walked through a heavy mist up the Pyg
>>> and Miners route.
>>>
>>> It may not have been 'natural' but we three had more fun than they did!
>>>
>>> Nicola Shelton
>>> Epidemiology and Public Health
>>> UCL
>>>
>>>
>>> Lesley Doyle wrote:
>>>
>>> > Oh! What a friend of Cala Homes and their ilk across the world! Hey -
>>> > that's given me an idea - what about a housing estate and one of those
>>> > petrol stations with the nice green BP sign..........
>>> > Lesley Doyle
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > -----Original Message-----
>>> > *From:* A forum for critical and radical geographers
>>> > [mailto:[log in to unmask]] *On Behalf Of *Mathis
>>> > Stock
>>> > *Sent:* 28 March 2005 13:59
>>> > *To:* [log in to unmask]
>>> > *Subject:* Re: [subbrit] Snowdon Cafe
>>> >
>>> > What is that of a conception of the "natural"? What is "our best
>>> > landscape"? Where humans dwell - by building for example - the
>>> > "natural" regresses? Is landscape destroyed by humans' dwelling?
>>> > Is "nature" the virgin place and a "good" landscape one without
>>> > human?
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > Le 27 mars 05, à 21:58, Hillary Shaw a écrit :
>>> >
>>> > Why do we need to plonk anything at the top of Snowdon at all.
>>> > We already have a rack railway running up and down it - why
>>> > not take this opportunity to demolish the 'third rate cafe'
>>> > altogether and build a good visitor centre, cafe, etc at the
>>> > bottom end of the railway. Keep the top of one of our best
>>> > landscapes / highest mountains as natural as possible. (What
>>> > would people's reaction be if Nepal announced it was to build
>>> > a hotel at the top of Everest, accessed by a cable car?)
>>> >
>>> > Hillary Shaw, Geography, University of Southampton
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > In the dim and distant past, the building at the top of
>>> > Snowdon was
>>> > labelled "Hotel" on OS maps.
>>> >
>>> > I was very disappointed, after my first ascent, to discover it
>>> > was a
>>> > third rate cafe!
>>> >
>>> > I wonder if a new building will improve the quality of the
>>> > comestibles offered.
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > --
>>> >
>>> > The University of Stirling is a university established in Scotland by
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>>> >
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> David Bissell
>> Postgraduate Researcher
>> Department of Geography
>> University of Durham
>> South Road
>> DURHAM DH1 3LE
>>
>> [log in to unmask]
>>
>>
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