Lecht Ski Centre co-founder James McIntosh MBE dies

James McIntosh said the 2017 honour was a "complete surprise"

The man who co-founded the Lecht Ski Centre and later won an MBE has died.

James McIntosh, 71, was recognised in the New Year Honours list in 2017 for services to skiing and tourism in the north east of Scotland.

He co-founded the popular ski venue - which is on the A939 between Cockbridge and Tomintoul, on the eastern side of the Cairngorms - in the 1970s, and went on to become operations director.

The Lecht Ski Centre expressed "great sadness" as it shared the news.

"James sadly passed away on Tuesday surrounded by his family", a statement from the centre on social media said.

"The Lecht was James' original idea and what has been created over the years since then is now quite amazing. He is known far and wide in the skiing community and will be greatly missed.

"The centre just won't be the same without Lecht 1."

• Ski centre boss slopes off with MBE

Speaking in 2017 of his honour at the age of 66, Mr McIntosh said: "It all started 40 years ago, I used to work at Glenshee and then decided to start our own ski area.

"Myself and three friends decided to make it a commercial venture.

"The biggest problem was trying to convince the local regional council it was viable and to support it with opening the roads."

He said most of the memorable moments would be "full car parks and queues everywhere" as they tried to please holidaymakers.

Known as Tosh, he added of the MBE: "My reaction is one of complete surprise, I never thought I would get a reward like this - I am really over the moon about it.

"This is the icing on the cake."