Scotland has become home to one of the world's largest permanent indoor ice climbing facilities now that the construction of an ambitious £2million project in Kinlochleven has been completed.

Nestled between the Glencoe and Ben Nevis ranges, the Ice Factor offers the 280,000 mountaineering enthusiasts who visit Lochaber every year the chance to practice their skills on an indoor ice wall thought to be the largest in the world, and a competition-standard rock wall.

The Ice Factor project will employ 18 staff when it is fully operational this winter and houses over 1000 square metres of indoor rock and ice climbing.  The centre also boasts Scotland's first articulated rock climbing wall and dedicated instruction bay.
 
The development is centred on the conversion of a B-Listed disused carbon storage bunker, a remnant of Kinlochleven's former aluminium industry. The project was initially developed by the Kinlochleven Land Development Trust (KLDT) which successfully attracted environmental renewal funding of £770,000 from the Highlands  and Islands Enterprise (HIE) Network, sportscotland funding of £275,000, and a £702,000 European Regional Development Fund grant through the Highlands and Islands Special Transitional Programme.

The renovated building has been leased by KLDT to the Ice Factor whose managing director Jamie Smith is from Lochcarron in Wester Ross. The company has invested £250,000 in the project as Mr Smith believes the Ice Factor, which is located in the heart of one of Scotland's most popular climbing areas, will be ideally placed to appeal to the mountaineering market. 

The Ice Factor will provide an all-weather alternative to the thousands of enthusiasts who come to scale the heights in Lochaber every year - an area as renowned for unpredictable weather as for spectacular mountain ranges.  The operators also hope to establish the facility as a first-class training centre for local guides and mountaineering instructors using the purpose-built training area.

Since the closure of the aluminium smelter owned by Alcan UK Ltd in June 1999, KLDT, Lochaber Enterprise, The Highland Council and the private sector have been working together to improve the economic situation in the village.

Chair of the Kinlochleven Land Development Trust, Mr Edward Daynes said: "KDLT has worked towards developing the carbon bunkers for four years as part of the ongoing redevelopment of Kinlochleven.  Finding a suitable economic use for the former carbon bunker has been a challenge, but this project, which we have developed with Jamie Smith and his team, will establish Kinlochleven as a national and hopefully international climbing destination."

The project received assistance from both HIE and the local enterprise company, Lochaber Enterprise.  Charlotte Wright, acting chief executive of Lochaber Enterprise, welcomed the opening of the centre: "This exciting project marks the start of a new chapter for Kinlochleven.  Not only will it bring a derelict building back to commercial use, but it will provide a new focus and identity for the village.  It will have immediate benefits for the community with the provision of 18 jobs and the fact that it could become an international competition venue will be a boost to the whole area, and help put Kinlochleven firmly on the map."