The Cairngorm funicular railway has been forced to stop operating “for several weeks” as a safety precaution.
Investigations are being carried out into new concerns raised relating to structures supporting the track following a recent routine inspection.
Specialist engineers have been commissioned and excavations are required to inspect the foundations.
Councillor Bill Loban said: “It is very concerning. The Cairngorm Mountain is of fundamental economic importance to the whole of Badenoch and Strathspey and I would hope that any closure is short-term and the funicular railway is up and running for the winter, as it is of absolute importance.”
Ewan Kearney, chief operating officer at CairnGorm Mountain (CML), said: “As operators of such a unique visitor attraction as the funicular, we take our responsibility and duty of care to the public and our staff extremely seriously.
“It is in everybody’s best interests to close the funicular to allow the engineers to conduct their investigation.
“At this stage, we are unable to provide a detailed timeline for the re-opening of the funicular and will issue further updates as we are able to do so.”
Susan Smith, head of business development at Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) described the situation as “highly regrettable” and one over which they have very limited control.
She added: “Clearly it will have a considerable impact on the commercial operations on Cairngorm, and be of concern to those employed at the resort.
“We are treating this as extremely urgent and doing all we can to address the problem and have the funicular returned to full service as quickly as possible.
“In the meantime, safety must come first and we fully respect CML’s decision to act on the precautionary advice of the inspectors.”
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HIE and CML have commissioned specialist engineers to carry out a detailed structural assessment of the area of concern.
The investigation will last several weeks, during which the funicular will remain closed.
The extended period of closure will have serious implications for CML’s commercial operation of the business, as the funicular is an integral part of the visitor experience throughout the year.
The findings of the detailed investigations are expected in November, where it should be established what remedial work is necessary and how long that is likely to take to complete.
Cairngorm Estate is owned by HIE and the resort and its infrastructure is leased and run by commercial operator, CairnGorm Mountain Limited (CML).
The funicular, which cost £19.5m and opened in 2001, connects a base station with a restaurant 1,097m (3,599ft) up Cairngorm Mountain.
Predicting the future
Mike Gale, chairman of Aviemore Business Association, said: “We suspected there would be closure and this was going to happen so it is not surprising.
“It is tragic that they were still taking money for season passes up until two days ago when they knew this was going to happen so there is bound to be a lot of disgruntled people.
“They have really let all the skiers, children who use the hill and locals down.
“We reformed the Aviemore Business Association as one of our concerns was about the hill and the lack of diversification and the fact they are just not listening to the community.
“We have over 80 businesses behind us who want change.
“It is a real shame it has come to this and we don’t know how long this is going to go on for.
“There has been no information forthcoming and we now worry about staffs jobs and the local economy that relies on trade from those visiting the hill.
“HIE have been very secretive about all this and if they had been upfront and honest I think people would have understood.
“Instead it has blown up in their face like this.”
