Ben Nevis: the strain is showing

Ben Nevis: the strain is showing

The problems caused by so many booted feet tramping up Britain’s highest mountain will come to a head later this month with a summit meeting between charity representatives and Ben Nevis’s authorities.

It is estimated that more than 200,000 walkers make the journey to the top of the ben each year, many taking part in charity events such as the Three Peaks Challenge. And it is beginning to put a serious strain on the environment around the 1,344m (4,409ft) mountain.

Organised fundraising walks involving the peak are covered by the voluntary code of conduct drawn up by the Institute of Fundraising. Now, representatives of the institute have agreed to meet members of the John Muir Trust, which owns much of the ben, and Highland Council, which runs the visitor centre in Glen Nevis, starting point for most of the Three Peaks Challenge groups.

The aim is to thrash out a new compromise code to alleviate the strains put on the mountain by so many walkers, many of whom are not ‘mountain-savvy’ and leave a trail of litter, food and other detritus.

At present, groups of more than 15 are asked to contribute between £100 and £250 to the visitor centre for the extra cost of managing car parking, clearing litter and cleaning toilets. Groups of more than 50 are asked to chip in with even more.

The problems are felt elsewhere on the Three Peaks route, notably Wasdale, where challengers often arrive in the early hours of the morning to start the climb up Scafell Pike, leading to choked country lanes, human waste and disturbance to residents in the remote Lake District valley.

Mountain rescuers complain that organisers are simply shifting the financial burden on to them: Britain’s mountain rescue teams are themselves charitable groups staffed by volunteers. Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team spends much time in the summer months guiding inexperienced walkers down from Scafell Pike and other peaks navigationally challenged charity walkers wander on to in the darkness of a Cumbrian night.

As many as 60,000 people are thought to have set out up Ben Nevis on some form of charity event.

Erosion has increased and the fragile, semi-arctic environment is suffering serious damage. Highland Council would like charities to take more responsibility for their fundraisers. The John Muir Trust says, while it doesn’t want to dissuade people from enjoying Ben Nevis, something needs to be done about the sheer number of boots pounding the paths to the summit.

Also, the trust points out, very little economic benefit is felt by communities around Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon.

Hence the meeting with the institute this month.

However, a large number of challengers are ‘privateers’ – small groups of gung-ho individuals doing the route either outside of established charity organisations or simply as a physical challenge. Not only do they have to summit Britain’s three national peaks, they also have to drive more than 580 miles on the lanes, roads and motorways of Scotland, England and Wales – which itself can provide a safety problem.

Some would go further still and put Britain’s honeypot peaks out-of-bounds to walkers by introducing a quota.

The Ben Nevis path, cleared by John Muir Trust of litter and unnecessary cairns

The Ben Nevis path, cleared by John Muir Trust of litter and unnecessary cairns

Writing in The Herald, the paper’s literary editor Rosemary Goring postulates checkpoints on every approach to mountains such as Ben Nevis, with  a tariff and payment for upkeep of the peak. No more than allowed by that day’s quota would be allowed to pass.

She would go further: “Munro baggers,” she says, “Should be issued with passports, renewable only on evidence of good behaviour.”

Ms Goring has, hopefully, her tongue firmly in her cheek. Either that or she needs to take more water with her malt or displays a fundamental misunderstanding of walking the Highlands. A quick shimmy 50m left or right of any Checkpoint Charles Inglis Clark will get you past the guards. Unless, of course, she wants to put an electrified fence and watchtowers around half of Lochaber.

Perhaps she should contact Paul Lister.

But Ms Goring does make a serious point. If it’s peace, solitude and wilderness you desire, Ben Nevis is not the place. But there are 283 other munros, many of which will afford you that wilderness experience.

Even in the crowded Lake District and Snowdonia, there are corners where you can escape the Gore-tex hordes.

None of which helps poor Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon.

Charities will not give up a valuable source of cash, and armchair baggers will still want to put a little adventure into their otherwise sedentary lives.

For the sake of all lovers of the mountains, the hope is that the meeting can come up with a better way.