Row over webcam's removal at Cairn Gorm

A row has broken out about the removal of a webcam from 762m (2,500ft) up Cairn Gorm mountain.

Winter Highland's camera at a Scottish Ski Club hut was removed by Natural Retreats, who operate the CairnGorm Mountain snowsports centre.

Winter Highland believes one reason is that the webcam had shown controversial work to dismantle a ski tow.

Natural Retreats said it discussed the webcam's removal with the ski club and sought to consult with Winter Highland.

Winter Highland is an organisation independent of the Natural Retreat-operated CairnGorm Mountain Ltd.

It has webcams across the Cairngorms showing weather conditions at sites such as Cairn Gorm and also Loch Morlich, which is the location of the highest beach in Britain and Scotland's only freshwater beach.

The removal of the Shieling rope tow last year drew criticism from conservationists who claimed the work caused damage to the environment.

Cairngorms National Park Authority's planning committee approved the removal of the tow and its replacement with a more modern system.

CairnGorm Mountain Ltd said it understood that there was concern about the removal of Winter Highland's webcam.

In a statement, it said: "We would like to highlight that we had discussions with the Scottish Ski Club before its removal, and sought to consult with Winter Highland also.

"This particular webcam did not link in with the rest of the live camera feeds at CairnGorm Mountain.

"We fully recognise that the webcams are consulted frequently by snowsports enthusiasts to help plan their trips to CairnGorm Mountain, as they provide live updates of conditions at the resort."

CairnGorm Mountain Ltd said it planned to replace the webcam within the next week with a new one that would feed into the rest of its systems.

It said this would provide a "live, accurate picture of conditions at all times" on the mountain.