The Mountaineering Council of Scotland

Issue 29 December 2005

TALKING POINT This issue we follow up on a few previous Talking Point subjects: Mountain Memorials Kevin Howett reports on the discussion in the last issue. Whilst criticism was still ringing in my ears that MCofS don't consult its members well enough on matters of importance this innocent enough internal discussion became a national debate. The story attracted the attention of the mainstream media and went on to reach unimaginable coverage. An early morning piece on the Radio 4 Today programme (September 14th) led to the story being debated on radio stations across the country by lunchtime, and most newspapers were expressing an opinion on it the following day. By the end of the week the story went out on BBC World Service and ex-pats as far away as Australia were writing in to say they had heard it! It was reported as a campaign by hill walkers to get rid of memorials. The MCofS were even approached to see if it was something that we wanted the Scottish Parliament to discuss. BBC Radio 2's Jeremy Vine Show featured a lengthy debate and its website attracted considerable postings. Our own website's 'Pitch-in' pages also attracted postings. Obviously anything to do with death still sells! Condemnation of the practice was particularly vitriolic from Muriel Gray in the Guardian describing the need for memorials as solipsism (I had to look that one up!), and claiming MCofS were so concerned about the trend that our debate was whether or not to 'outlaw' them. Muriel offers us an explanation for the 'grimy teddy bears crucified on metal crash barriers' syndrome of modern society suggesting it is a return to paganism. Who knows? She may have a point. Cameron McNeish used to get all fired up about cairns and has voiced support at our previous AGM debates for a shadowy group of cairn destroyers, but those tiny little piles of stones on path junctions pale into insignificance in relation to some recent 'memorial cairns' such as the 6ft high cairn to someone's (not dead yet) nephews on the walk from Tarbet to Skipness (see the photo opposite). I have also noticed a trend for more artistic stone building, a very good example being on the beach towards Kings Cave on Arran. These are now sprouting up all across the country – has the Arts Council given out a grant? Judging from the comments on both websites it does seem that the majority of hill walkers and mountaineers view the hills as no place to leave lasting memorials to loved ones, and where accepted, there is a clear distinction made between 'tasteful' well made edifices and bits of plastic, the latter viewed as nothing more than litter. As to 'outlawing' the practice, well its actually against the law to leave litter (see the recent dump busters advertising campaign by the government) and MCofS, and many other groups, chant the mantra 'take only photographs & leave only footprints' and ask hill goers to even take other peoples litter off the hill when they find it (see our 'Crag Code' for instance); so a certain degree of anarchism espoused by the cairn-busters group may seem perfectly acceptable to many of us and may solve the issue without recourse to the law. At the very least it would seem polite that would-be memorial builders discuss their intentions with landowners and accept alternatives when offered. Perhaps what happens on Ben Nevis, through the Nevis Partnership and the John Muir Trust will be a turning point in formulating a wider opinion for the future and the wishes of the hill going fraternity may seep into the common consciousness? Here are some opposing views we received, see our website for the rest: Dear MCofS I suspect that the majority of those who have died on the hills and mountains would not want the very places they loved desecrated in this way. J Fairey Dear MCofS Two popular summits that I have visited in the western highlands have been used to screw and glue to the rock memorials to folk who have died on mountains in the previous months. It is my view that such fixtures should be discouraged, including on the iconic Ben Nevis. Obviously the sentiments of relatives, friends and associates need to be respected by everyone. An outward show of such sentiment (e.g. a memorial plaque) is perfectly proper, but there is also a proper place (e.g. a graveyard, or similar). Does the mountaineering fraternity think there can be other places that are also proper? I raise the issue because the placing of memorial plaques on summits might catch the imagination of future survivors, and a culture could develop into a proliferation that could be difficult to halt. I pass on the following musings. 1) Are landowners aware? Have they been consulted? Have they agreed? 2) Would plaques not be better sited at the bottom of a mountain where they would be accessible to more people for visits and better looked after? 3) Hill walkers should be exhorted not to drill holes on summit rocks (conservation issue not unlike that of rock climbers drilling bolt holes). 4) Would a single site, in a recognised location (eg the graveyards at Chamonix and Zermatt), be more suitable (eg the proposal for a site in Glen Nevis)? 5) Can a solution be found that would fit with the Tyrol Declaration on Best Practice in Mountain Sports, so well documented in MCofS newsletter 27 of June 2005? Articles 3, 7, and 8 could have a bearing here, and possibly others. I suggest that hill walkers and mountaineers might reconsider otherwise well-intentioned ideas and that the MCofS, BMC, SMC etc might promote an agreed code, after consultation with a range of people and organisations. John Allen Dear MCofS For centuries there has been a Highland tradition of marking a place of sudden death with a Cairn. The hillsides and roadsides of the Highlands contain many. They are no big deal: indeed the majority have been erected on Highland estates with the full permission of the landowner. They should be left alone. It is the height of arrogance for the climbing fraternity -in search of some romantic vision of wildness - to object. I like to see the sheilings where the people stayed and am happy if a cairn or memorial indicates something has happened [there].  Memorials cause me to reflect and give interest to the journey. Never does their presence interfere with the view, unlike the wind farms, pylons, ski-lifts and Funicular which are, seemingly, acceptable. The Duke of Sutherland's monument on Ben Bhraggie is a fine example of public art- and I certainly feel that the Peace Cairn on Ben Nevis should be left alone. It is perhaps only in recent years that unofficial memorials have become plentiful - so what? Pick up the plastic teddies, the artificial flowers and other kitsch if it offends you but leave the plaques. It's only a matter of taste after all and who is to say that your taste should have any primacy over that of the bereaved. Captain Maryon's Cairn on Skye, Sandeman's Stone, Carn Anthony, Ferguson's Cairn in Ross-shire, Bowlby's monument in Knoydart have been in place for 50 years and more, as has Lewis Macdonald's memorial in the Cuillins. Of course the little teddy on the plaque to the child on the pap of Glencoe can be accused of being in bad taste - but so what? You don't seriously imagine when you stand on a peak that you are the first and will be the last ever to have been there. My real objection is however to the overt fascism behind proposals to destroy hillside memorials -leave things alone. If they are not maintained they will decay and disappear:  if folk look after them they will remain. Why on earth should a plaque screwed into a piece of rock offend anyone? Highlanders have tolerated a lot of things over the centuries - not the least tourists in the form of mountaineers or neo-colonists in the guise of mountain rangers or employees of eco-quangos like the John Muir Trust or the National Trust. They should not seek to impose a set of values upon a landscape which does not spiritually belong to them. Fraser Mackenzie Perhaps what the surviving relatives or friends should realise are the reasons their loved ones enjoyed the unspoilt countryside. Robert G McFarlane I prefer the mountains wild. Scattering ashes is fine, but permanent memorials are out of place and should be removed to somewhere more appropriate. Laura McBriens Are memorials no more than unacceptable litter? I would say that the present generation would agree. Yes, remove all memorials along with, the many expansion bolts drilled and placed thus damaging deliberately, Scottish cliffs, crags and mountain faces by some members of the Mountaineering Council for Scotland. Dennis Morrod Dear Sir There has been publicity recently about Memorial Cairns in the hills. I quite agree that there could become too many. I write to you about a cairn I have built containing stones from all the Munros and 'Tops'. This is in memory of ALL mountaineers who have died climbing Scottish mountains. This cairn however, is NOT in the mountains, but in a public road lay-by and viewpoint, where many tourists stop (as well as buss tours). There is usually a souvenir shop there as well, and a van selling burgers, tea etc. I wished some publicity about this cairn because I wanted those who have been bereaved to know about it. Maybe you are against publicising cairns, but surely not in this case due to its location. Yours Faithfully W G Park. What Next? The debate on the issues was carried out on the BBC website and then on the MCofS site, with the majority of respondents expressing the views that memorials detract from people's enjoyment of being on the hill, that memorials reduce the feeling of remoteness and that many of the people being remembered would have been appalled at what was being done in their name if they were around to see what their friends and relatives had done. By way of progressing the debate and encouraging individuals to think through the issues, the MCofS is working on a guidance note, or 'Code', on the subject based on comments received so far and after consultation with other organizations with an interest. There is, however, still time for you to comment to our website and when complete we hope this Code will represent the hill walkers and mountaineers views on the subject. It will be available on our website and will be published in the next edition of The Scottish Mountaineer (March 2006).

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