Kinlochleven's Ice Factor climbing centre to reopen

Scotland's only indoor ice climbing facility is set to reopen.

The Ice Factor in Kinlochleven closed earlier this year amid a dispute over unpaid rent.

Kinlochleven Community Trust (KCT), which owns the building, has now named Three Wise Monkeys Climbing as preferred bidder for the lease.

The Fort William-based business said it hoped to reopen the Ice Factor in the coming months.

The centre is one of the largest indoor ice climbing facilities in Europe.

When in operation, large walls within the building are covered in thick ice. The main wall has an area of about 1,200 sq m (12,916 sq ft).

Over the years, it has been used for both recreational and competitive climbing.

The site's former operators, Ice Factor Kinlochleven had its lease terminated by KCT in March.

The move came four months after the closure of Snow Factor at XSite Braehead, Renfrewshire, which was owned by Ice Factor Kinlochleven's parent company the Ice Factor Group.

Oliver Millington, managing director of Three Wise Monkeys Climbing, said he hoped to bring the Kinlochleven facility back into use soon.

He told BBC Radio Scotland: "It's quite an iconic facility.

"There is nothing quite like it around now, and still one of the largest in Europe."

Mr Millington added: "It is a very cool facility. It would be a real shame to lose it and we're really looking forward to getting the climbing community back in."

The Ice Factor opened in the Highland village in 2003. It is housed within a 130-year-old former Victorian smelter.

In July 2015 the centre was damaged by fire.

The clean up took almost a year and involved melting and removing walls of ice and cleaning thousands of individual handholds.