AN INTREPID climber smashes an ice-axe into a gleaming, frozen waterfall; boarders rocket down the slopes spraying snow in all directions, and the camera pans across a vista of white-capped mountains. Welcome to Scotland... in the last century.
National tourism body VisitScotland was last night at the centre of a row over misleading potential visitors after it admitted scenes in an advert showing the country as a winter sports wonderland were as much as a decade old.
The short film, sho
wn in cinemas south of the Border and online across the world, depicts breathtaking scenes of year-round sport including ice-climbing and skiing on snow-packed pistes.
But tourism experts and outdoor lovers alike complained that the 40-second film appears to take little account of global warming. While it is still possible to ice climb and ski, Scotland has not experienced sustained, heavy falls of snow, or extremely low temperatures, for around seven years. VisitScotland's critics say the ad could end up harming the tourist industry by giving a false impression of the winter sports now available.
VisitScotland has admitted that the ice-climbing footage was filmed at Coire na Poite on Beinn Bhan in Applecross, Wester Ross, in the 1990s. Many mountaineering experts insist these feats are now almost impossible to repeat because of global warming. The organisation could not even say when the skiing footage was filmed except that, because of recent winter conditions, it could not have been any more recent than 2003.
The chronic lack of snow last winter forced professional mountaineer and guide Alan Crichton to cancel his entire programme of Cairngorm-based courses.
"You can still go ice-climbing in Scotland, but it won't be of the quality that was shown in the video," he said. "We haven't had conditions like that for a while now, with the last decent winter being in 2001.
"It has been getting steadily more difficult but whether it is a result of global warming or a blip I really don't know. The opening of the Ice Factor indoor climbing centre near Glencoe was largely prompted by the dwindling opportunities outdoors.
"The amount of snow falling doesn't appear to have changed, but what has changed is that we are seeing far more marked thaws during the winter," said Alan Halewood, the centre's manager and a mountaineering instructor.
"Back in the 1990s you could rely on getting a clump of snow in early December that would last but now we are seeing an increase in thaws that are pretty devastating.
"A lot of the lower altitude ice climbs haven't been seen reliably for a few years now."
One experienced winter sports enthusiast added: "It was painfully obvious that the footage of the ice climbing was around a decade old because there hasn't been that much ice in Scotland for a long time."
Inverness-based economist Tony Mackay felt relying on images culled from a previous era was a high-risk strategy which could backfire.
"It is silly to persist in using footage from the 1990s to advertise winter sports in Scotland," he said. "It is a policy that could rebound if you get lots of people travelling up to Scotland looking to snowboard, ski and ice-climb only to find there is no snow. It would be far better to advertise year-round activities that are not dependent on snow than to use old footage to promote winter sports which are declining steadily."
Mackay, who has previously acted as an adviser to Scottish ski centres, added: "The winter sports industry did very well in the 1990s, but the milder weather and lack of snow have meant numbers have plummeted in recent years. They are going down about 20% every year and as winters continue to get gradually warmer, the numbers will continue to tail off."
Last year Glenshee managed only 34 "decidedly average" skiing days - a third of the annual average. It is a part of a long-term trend in which the number of days fit for skiing and snowboarding has fallen by a quarter over the past two decades.
Scientists at the University of East Anglia have predicted an even gloomier future, claiming that up to 90% of Scotland's snow will melt away over the next 80 years, to be replaced by more rain.
But VisitScotland defended the advert and claimed that criticism was counter-productive. "Our adventure cinema and TV advert aims to inspire people to visit Scotland to take part in the wide range of adventure sports and activities available - everything from surfing to mountain biking," said a spokeswoman.
"Winter climbing remains a very popular activity in Scotland and we have many amazing locations for this sport, with similar conditions to those shown in the advert. The advert is an important part of our marketing efforts to promote Scotland as Europe's number one adventure destination."
The spokeswoman added the campaign had the backing of the Scottish Mountaineering Club.
Climate change is a thaw point
Official Government statistics show that climate change is affecting Scotland and that the snow season is melting away.
Figures reveal that the number of days of snow cover experienced in Scotland has fallen by 32% between 1961/62 and 2004/05.
A report states: "Over the last 40 years the number of days of snow cover has decreased in each region and in all seasons.
"In winter the changes are greater than 25%. The decreasing trend is apparent in all regions with north and east Scotland seeing a reduction from a typical 35 days of snow cover a year in the 1960s to an average of 26 days per year in the present climate.
"Over the same period, the number of days of cover in West Scotland has reduced from an average of 20 to just 13.
"The snow season in Scotland has shortened across the country with the season starting later and finishing earlier."
The number of days when ground frost is recorded in Scotland has also fallen by 28% over the past 40 years. This figure rises to 32% in the north.
The report concludes that since 1961 average spring, summer and winter temperatures have risen by more than 1°C.
The full article contains 1048 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
