Wednesday 25 November 2015

MOUNTAIN PATH AWARENESS & BEN NEVIS

The NE Buttress on Ben Nevis
The team of outdoor leaders with Dougie
Dougie imparting his knowledge
Lifting rocks, expensive
Google the website on the side of the bus
Several mountain path users
More rock lifting against a wintery Carn Dearg
I had an interesting day out with Dougie, the Footpath Officer from  Nevis Landscape Partnership today. Along with several other outdoor instructors and leaders we were on a workshop to learn more about footpath construction, maintenance and the erosion created by thousands of boots and water damage. The day was also aimed at what we, as leaders, can do to pass on our knowledge to the folk we take out walking and climbing. We headed up the path alongside the Allt a' Mhuillin and  up to the CIC Hut. Despite over £100,000 spent on this  7 years ago, the path needs some attention already. The Fiends of Nevis  run volunteer days throughout the year if you feel you would like to help out. During the day we could see and hear the helicopter shuttling bags of rocks from one part of the mountain over to the lower section of the Mountain Path. This is major work being done over the winter months and will last two years, costing £1 million. They are asking folk to choose a different route up the mountain during this period as this section of path is quite narrow and awkward to get around whilst work is in progress. Despite the warm temperatures there is still snow down to 800m. We ad a dry day despite rain being forecasted. Big thanks to Dougie for a really informative day.

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