There has been a surprise rejection of plans for a new dry ski slope area at the bottom of CairnGorm Mountain ski area above Aviemore in the Scottish Highlands.
The £1.5m dry slope was to have been located near the base of the slopes and feature a main slope of over 100 metres and a nursery slope.
Public body Highlands and islands Enterprise (HIE) which bankrolls the loss-making ski area, operated by private business Natural Retreats had backed the plans and so had the Cairngorm National Park Authority, to the surprise of many.
The National Park Authority is supposed to protect the environment and there has been a long-standing conflict with environmental groups over all ski are developments on Cairngorm, a site of special scientific interest with a rare sub-Arctic climate.
The Park Authority's Support of the project, justified on economic grounds as a positive development for employment in the Aviemore community, had led protesters to assume the slope would be approved by planners.
They had therefore called for the area to be taken out of control by the public bodies and be run directly by the Scottish government.
Previously they had argued that as dry slope was not needed at the area and that it been proved by similar slopes at other Scottish ski areas over past decades that people did not come to the mountains to ski on artificial surface slopes.
Cairngorm ski area currently has multiple operation problems including the current closure, seen as likely to continue through the coming ski season, of its key funicular railway access lift.
HIE's head of business development, Susan Smith, told the BBC: "Options to support skiing at Cairngorm this winter remain a priority in the short term."