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.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> >
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>
>
--
David Bissell
Postgraduate Researcher
Department of Geography
University of Durham
South Road
DURHAM DH1 3LE
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