![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/benneviscairns-300x2251.jpg\" "\\"benneviscairns\\"")
The remaining cairns and repaired path<\/p><\/div>John Muir Trust volunteer work parties have completed a gruelling five year programme to remove more than 120 unsightly cairns from the summit of Ben Nevis. Now the Trust is asking walkers not to build any news ones. Around twenty cairns have been left along the main path close to the summit. <\/p>\n
The John Muir Trust – owners of Ben Nevis since 2000 – has cleared these cairns to preserve the wild and remote feeling at the top of Britain\u2019s highest mountain. The cairns were also being used as rubbish bins and their proliferation could give people a false sense of security which is not an adequate replacement for map reading skills necessary in poor weather conditions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese randomly laid cairns could easily deceive walkers into thinking they were following a path.\u201d commented Sandy Maxwell. \u201cOn Ben Nevis, like all mountains in Scotland, the weather can change rapidly so it is essential to be prepared to navigate yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n
The cairns, most of them only a few feet high, have been randomly built up over the years by walkers. They are often started by a collection of stones to cover up litter left on the summit. As they are built up over time by passing walkers, more and more rubbish is stuffed into their nocks and crannies. John Muir Trust work parties dismantling these cairns also picked up hundreds of bags of litter from Ben Nevis. Their excavations even uncovered a piano and wheelchair.<\/p>\n
Cairns and memorials on Scotland\u2019s hills are a source of intense controversy amongst walkers and conservationists. The debate rages between those who think that they add to the experience of a good walk and others who are convinced that any man-made structure is an unnecessary intrusion into a remote landscape. The John Muir Trust has removed these cairns in line with its wild land policy to \u2018remove redundant non-archaeological structures.\u2019<\/p>\n
The decision to leave around twenty cairns on Ben Nevis was a pragmatic one. With over 200, 000 people walking to the summit every year it is widely recognised that some sort of waymarker is necessary to help prevent people from loosing their way. \u201cThese cairns should not be used as a primary feature for navigation,\u201d warned Sandy Maxwell. \u201cThere is no substitute for a map and compass, and if you are not confident with your navigation skills, do not attempt to walk to the summit of Ben Nevis in poor weather. The cairns are spaced too widely apart to be followed in poor visibility.\u201d <\/p>\n
There are also historic reasons for keeping these cairns on Ben Nevis. They were built as part of the pony track that wound up to a Victorian Observatory, constructed on the summit in 1883. The observatory, funded by private donors, provided constant meteorological date for twenty years before being abandoned in 1904. Near the ruins of the observatory is the world famous peace cairn. Dedicated to universal world peace the Fort William-Dudley Memorial and Peace Cairn was built on top of Britain\u2019s highest mountain on VJ Day in 1945. <\/p>\n
\u201cBen Nevis is no ordinary mountain and we are committed to protecting its unique history together with its rugged landscape, concluded Sandy Maxwell. Now that the main work of clearing unwanted cairns is over, I urge visitors to Britain highest mountain to leave its summit as you find it.\u201d <\/p>\n
If you are interested in volunteering the Friends of Nevis partnership is organising a litter blitz on Saturday 15 November. This family event in lower\/mid Glen Nevis has been planned to tackle late summer and autumn rubbish – including the aftermath of bonfire celebrations – and to get the glen smartened up before the onset of winter!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
John Muir Trust volunteer work parties have completed a gruelling five year programme to remove more than 120 unsightly cairns from the summit of Ben Nevis. Now the Trust is asking walkers not to build any news ones. Around twenty cairns have been left along the main path close to the summit. The John Muir Trust – owners of Ben Nevis since 2000 – has cleared these cairns to preserve the wild and remote feeling at the top of Britain\u2019s highest mountain. The cairns were also being used as rubbish bins and their proliferation could give people a false sense…<\/span> <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-conservation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21806,"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301\/revisions\/21806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}