CairnGorm ski operator says it is stuck in the middle of chairlift dispute

As reported last week, in the second instalment of an ongoing series, emotions are running high in the Spey Valley following the removal of two chairlifts from the CairnGorm Mountain ski area. Although they had been closed since 2005 many skiers had hoped that Ciste and West Wall lifts, situated on the Coire na Ciste side of the mountain, could one day be renovated and brought back into use. Last month, however, workmen employed by the landowners Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), with support from Natural Retreats, the company that operates the ski centre, demolished all the chairlift towers and removed them from the mountain. Since then, the folks in the Natural Retreats marketing department have barely been able to publish a single post on the CairnGorm Mountain Facebook page without attracting the ire of locals, who feel that the future of their ski hill has been put in jeopardy.