New high ropes courses are set to be installed as part of a £250,000 scheme at the Nevis Range Mountain Experience (NRME) near Fort William, Scotland.

Rope Course Construction and Inside Out Scotland will construct the two new courses at the foot of the mountain gondola, which will then be verified by the European Ropes Courses Association. The Family course will be built in a corner of the existing car park and will incorporate two levels - one around 1m (3.3ft) off the ground and another 4m (13.1ft) off the ground, with features including a zip wire, a postman's walk and swing tyres.

Meanwhile, the planned Forest course will be installed in Leanachan Forest and will be 10m (32.8ft) high, featuring swinging platforms and a sliding trapeze before finishing with a 100m (328ft) zip wire. Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) will provide £77,000 towards the scheme, which will cater for people of all ages and abilities and is designed to attract new customers to the site.

NRME managing director Marian Austin said: "The ropes course has been in planning for several years now and its taken us all that time to secure the funding, planning and leases, as well as carry out the research and feasibility studies needed before we could start." The new courses are expected to open in early June 2010 in order to coincide with the Mountain Bike World Cup, which is being staged at NRME.