The Real 3 Peaks Challenge – Deep Clean

A coordinated litter sweep to "deep clean" the three highest peaks of Scotland, England and Wales has been dubbed "The Real 3 Peaks Challenge".

Initiated by Mountain Training Association member Richard Pyne and fully supported by the Mountain Training Association(MTA), the project will see teams of volunteers climbing to the summits of Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon, clearing as much as they can from the summit areas and from the popular routes used.

Richard said, "I'd led groups on the top of Ben Nevis in winter before, but I was up there with a group this summer and I was appalled at the amount of litter I saw. I started filling a bag and ended up carrying down 3 kg of rubbish that day."

Gaining the support of the John Muir Trust (which owns the summit area of Ben Nevis), Snowdonia Society, Mountain Training, the Mountaineering Council of Scotland and the BMC. Each mountain has an MTA member coordinating; Ross Worthington for Snowdon, Kelvyn James for Scafell Pike and Richard will be coordinating the Ben Nevis litter sweep himself.

Richard said, "We've set Saturday 12 October as the date and it would be good if others would get involved and help us out to clear as much rubbish as possible. We also want to spread the message to as many people as possible who in turn can spread the message that it's just not acceptable to drop litter or leave rubbish."



The main aim being to raise awareness of the work already undertaken by local charities and volunteer groups who frequently have clean up events, perhaps more importantly educate the many numbers of visitors that can then have a positive impact on littering, especially over the busy summer months with many thousands of charity fund raisers and holidaying walkers.

The peaks have been chosen as the 'honey pot' areas but there will also be other clear up events across many National Parks. Anyone wishing to lend a hand can get in touch at real3peaks.bennevis@gmail.com for the Scottish leg of the project. English and Welsh emails are real3peaks.snowdon@gmail.com and real3peaks.scafell@gmail.com