ACCESS & CONSERVATION
By Mike Dales
NATIONAL SPRING CLEAN
"Keep Scotland Beautiful" has written to the MCofS
asking for our support with one of their campaigns. The National
Spring Clean has become the largest environmental campaign in the
UK, and this year it has been extended to run throughout April.
We should all pick up as much litter as possible at all times,
but events like this do a great deal to raise awareness of the
litter problem and to generate practical participation. The
National Spring Clean event is about picking litter in every
location, be it in the city, on the coast or in the mountains.
The MCofS supports this scheme and we encourage every walker,
climber and mountaineer to get involved. You will have done your
bit if you bring one piece of litter off the hill in April, but
if you pick up at least one piece of litter every time you go
outdoors you will be doing considerably more.
If you want to become involved in the National Spring Clean
event proper, the number to call is 0990 885 577, and Keep
Scotland Beautiful will send you a free clean-up kit.
BEN NEVIS LITTER PICK
The MCofS has made a commitment to organising a litter pick on
Ben Nevis, and we hope to honour that commitment later this year.
Such an event could clear away much of the mess that is left
behind towards the end of a busy summer season, as well as
raising awareness of the litter problem on a mountain which
attracts a great deal of use by non-mountaineers. Being our
highest mountain makes Ben Nevis a special attraction to
thousands of tourists each year. Many of these visitors to the
area ascend the mountain via the "Tourist Path" then
spend as much time around the summit area as the conditions will
allow. Not surprisingly the worst of the litter is found along
the Tourist Path and around the summit. Previous litter picks in
September and October have gathered up staggering amounts of
rubbish.
The MCofS is keen to take its turn at organising one of these
events, and we will look to our membership to help with the task.
As well as clearing one seasons rubbish away we want to try and
influence the actions of tourists that will visit the Ben in
future years. The interpretative signs that walkers see as they
leave the Youth Hostel or Achintee car parks are uncoordinated
and out of date, and we would like to see a strong message about
litter being aimed at the general tourist as they head for the
hills.
The MCofS Litter Pick on Ben Nevis will take place over the
weekend of September 19th and 20th. Any
clubs and individual members that want to help out with this
project should contact the MCofS office to register their
support. We will produce information about our plans for the
weekend, and send this out to those who have shown an interest
nearer the time. We hope there will be plenty of members willing
to spend some time carrying out this kind of practical work for
the benefit of the mountains.
BRITISH UPLAND FOOTPATH TRUST UPLAND PATH AWARD 1997
by Mike
Newbury
The Award is presented for excellence in design and
implementation of repairs to eroded upland paths, and aims to
promote best practice in upland pathwork and spread new ideas and
techniques. My tour of inspection of the eleven projects
submitted amounted to a voyage of discovery, and I hope that
concerned hillwalkers as well as pathworkers and managers will
find my Report stimulating. The Scottish projects were:-
- The Storr Path, Isle of Skye: a machine built path up a
steep mirey forest ride - a valiant effort given the route fixed
by the car park and the thick plantation. (Skye & Lochalsh
Footpath Trust.)
- The path into Coire Mhic Fhearchair in Torridon, where the
route through the boulder field was producing a band of peat
erosion. An Award of Merit was given to the Ross & Cromarty
Footpath Trust ( Contractor Highland Conservation Services) for
their innovative work. Temporary cabins were flown in by
helicopter and non-intrusive path design has rendered the new
path just a little less arduous than the boulders!
- The Kernsary Path in Wester Ross, all the way from the
Kernsary plantation to the lochan below Martha's Peak, made
to look like a traditional stalker's path but machine built
and laid on geo-textile floated on the bog ( R&CFT and
Pathcraft ).
- The path over Ben Lomond and back by Ptarmigan. This
represents ten years' work by the National Trust for
Scotland and their staff and contractors, and won a Merit Award
for long-term commitment to maintenance and pre-emptive repairs,
also patiently reducing the broad erosion scar on the south
ridge.
- Carnethy Hill, Pentlands: machine work by Pathcraft on a
sinuous pathline on or near the ridge with off-path landscaping
and re-vegetation.
A Merit Award was also won by the Lake District National Trust
for their work on Gamlin End, Buttermere. There is splendid stone
pitching and they tackled the problem of sheet erosion caused by
over-grazing on a mobile slope, by an experimental temporary
exclosure. In Scotland too, sheep nibble and trample newly sown
grass and nestle into banks to produce overhangs of turf. I hope
that walkers will tolerate temporary fences where zero grazing is
the only answer. ( Enjoy the wild flowers that spring up! )
The main Award went to the Jenny Brewster Path on the
Cleveland Way ( North York Moors National Park; designer Margaret
Thomas; contractor David Close.) This has a machine built
aggregate surfaced section shared with vehicles, then stone
pitching on a gradient of up to 25 degrees, quarried slabbing and
slabbing reclaimed from old mill floors (rough side up). All
stonework is well seeded with grass in the crevices, and sunk
into landscaped banks with bedded boulders, turves and
re-seeding. And there is a very detailed programme of
maintenance.
BUFT will be pleased to hear of walkers' views on these
and other paths and I should particularly like feedback on
preferences for pitching: my personal preference is for treads
big enough for my feet ( smaller stones being grouped together),
whilst some walkers prefer a more ramped, ridged construction.
Ease of descent is important because otherwise ( saving verge
obstruction, which is not always practicable) walkers tend to
wear the verges and cause fresh erosion.
My Report is, I hope, a mine of information and includes 16
pages of colour photos. It is available for £12 including
P&P ( which just meets the cost ), from BUFT, PO Box 96,
Manchester M20 2FU. BUFT is a charity supported by MC of S, BMC,
RA and COLA ( the equipment traders organisation). Support via MC
of S would be gratefully accepted.
THE CAIRNGORMS CAMPAIGN - THE FUNICULAR RAILWAY
POST A CARD TO THE SCOTTISH SECRETARY
by Ian Lawson, Convenor
You will probably now be aware that the government have said
they will fund the construction of the planned funicular railway
on Cairn Gorm. You may well also be aware that the granting of
planning permission is being challenged in the courts by RSPB and
WWF. The Cairngorms Campaign fully endorse the WWF/RSPB court
action. All the conservation bodies involved have made it clear
from the start that there is no quarrel with replacing the
chairlift. Their objection is to a funicular, as the option
selected by the developer.
We know that public opposition to the funicular option has
been overwhelming, but the new government have still to
appreciate this fact, along with the damage it would do to the
Cairngorms and the waste of public money it represents. You may
not be aware that the financial details made public betray an
alarming picture. Over £12 million of public investment would
create only 100 jobs - over £100,000 per job with a high degree
of risk. Worse still, if the scheme fails, the taxpayer is
committed to picking up the tab for the clean up. Some of these
public funds are due to come from Europe. However the Commission
in Brussels has suspended payment pending a full investigation.
Consequently I am asking you to help us draw more attention to
this issue as expressions of public support can still make a
difference. Fix a stamp to the enclosed postcard and send it with
your name and address to the Secretary of State. Government will
then have to consider once again the full implications of the
scheme. Your postcard will quite literally count.
* PLEASE GIVE 45 SECONDS OF YOUR TIME PLUS A POSTAGE STAMP *
You can do more- ask friends and colleagues to send postcards
too -we can provide you with more if you need them. Better still
you and your friends can compose and send your own letters,
detailing the reasons why you feel the funicular would not be in
your or the public's interest. If you have written before,
please write again. At least, please send the card.
Please also, if you haven't already, join and support the
Cairngorms Campaign which has played a central role in
galvanising and co-ordinating opposition to the funicular.
PENTLAND HILLS REGIONAL PARK
DROVER SUNDAY SERVICE
MCofS welcomes this service which enables people to cross the
Pentlands and then either get back to their car or to Hillend by
minibus. Hillend has a good bus service to the centre of
Edinburgh so it should now be much easier for people to avoid
taking their cars. We urge our members to support the service.
Timetables and bus route descriptions are available from the
Regional Park (0131-445-3383).
Unfortunately the first version of the leaflet asked people to
keep to the paths at all times which was totally unnecessary and
contravenes the freedom to roam. We are delighted to report that
after MCofS President Nick Kempe intervened, the Park's
Manager has agreed to change the wording on the leaflet and in
doing so we think he has set a good example for other land
managers to follow. While there is no need to stick to paths, do
remember that the Pentlands are used relatively more intensively
than many other hills and that other land-uses have to co-exist
with walking.
SAFETY & TRAINING
PLASTIC BOOTS -
ARE YOUR BOOTS DUE A PERCUSSION TEST?
By John Donohoe
With a bit of proper Winter weather, many of you will be
dragging those old plastic boots out of the cupboard and getting
on to something steep. A cautionary tale then :-
In the Oeztal Alps last Autumn, a Scots climber was somewhat
alarmed when both of his plastic boots suffered catastrophic
failure, the toecaps cracking and disintegrating. Luckily this
occurred at the end of the climb, just as the group was reaching
safe ground at the edge of the glacier. The boots had been in
good nick, with minimal signs of wear and no pre-existent visible
cracks. They were, however, about 10 years old. Like yours maybe?
I discussed the incident with Andy MacNae, National Officer of
the BMC. He confirmed that the BMC Technical Committee had
investigated a similar case and that they had reports of others.
The material used in plastic boots is designed to remain ductile
i.e. pliable and strong over the expected temperature range found
in mountain environments. Clearly in these cases the boots had
become brittle and liable to crack when impacted. There were a
number of possible causes of this premature ageing, such as
exposure to U.V. light or unusual temperature cycling. Although
the plastic material of the boots which failed has not been used
for about 8 years, it is conceivable that the problem could occur
with other plastics as they get older.
What to do about it? The suggested answer lies in that old
engineer's response to any complex technological glitch -
Yes, whack it with a hammer! If your boots are more than about 7
years old bung them in a freezer overnight, take them out in the
morning and tap them sharply with a light hammer. If they fall
apart at least you can console yourself with the fact that you
are not front-pointing up something desperate at the time.
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