Mountain group members left disgusted by state of famous Cairngorm bothy
Walkers are being urged to leave the Cairngorms' bothies as they would hope to find them.
Neil Reid, communications officer with Mountaineering Scotland, said that he and his colleague encountered a 'midden' when they arrived at teh famous Corrour Bothy at the weekend.
He told the Strathy that this was the results of just a handful of visitors as the bothy – halfway through the Lairig Ghru – had been left in good condition by Mountain Bothy Association volunteers just a month earlier.
He said that the poor state bothies are left in was a long running problem but it is getting worse.
Mr Reid said: "The place was in a bit of a state when we arrived there on Saturday. There was all the foodstuff and rubbish plus a large sack of litter which included bottles, cans and rotten fruit as well as paper and plastic.
"There was a whole tent unpacked and stuffed under the bench, and a foil survival blanket, along with mess tins, a water bottle, a thermos flask filled with curdled milk and, bizarrely, a bottle of strawberry topping sauce.
"The floor was sorely needing swept too – I wouldn’t have wanted to lay my sleeping mat down on that.
"We were over three hours burning rubbish, food and abandoned clothing, and the fire was still going when we left – under supervision of two guys who had arrived to stay the night there."
Mr Reid and his colleague had come up on Friday for a work party at the Redhouse Bothy, a former ruin the MBA is currently renovating.
He said: "We had planned to walk up Glen Dee to change over the toilet at Corrour and to empty and rearrange the bags of human waste in the store, to make more room, as we’ve been having problems with the arrangements for a heli lift.
"So we walked up the glen in intermittent rain to arrive facing an absolute midden. The job we came to do took about half an hour but we were at the bothy most of the day – not pleasant work, and it meant it was about 4.30pm before we arrived back at the Redhouse tired out but still working on the roof there until work stopped sometime near 7pm.
"This that was the work party short of two guys for most of the day."
Mr Reid added: "This isn’t a new problem and I’ve written at least three blog posts on it over the years, but it was as bad as I’ve seen it for a while and had accumulated over a very short period.
"We had a couple of MBA folk out there a month ago and everything was fine when they left, and I’ve seen a photo taken just a week ago when only the tent can be seen for sure, so this has been mostly a very few folk rather than a gradual build-up.
"From the nature of the rubbish and abandoned food and kit, I think most is left by people walking through the Lairig who get to Corrour and realise they’ve packed far too much stuff, so offload what they think they can do without.
"Some food may well be left with good intentions, but we discourage people from that.
"Anything wrapped in paper or plastic will get chewed through by mice, and while tins are fine for a while, they encourage others to leave stuff which may not be so mouse-proof."
Mr Reid said littering was not a problem exclusive to bothies but wider society.
He commented: "In the many Twitter conversations since people have also highlighted the problem of roadside litter from moving cars and the ubiquitous of litter in towns and throughout society.
"I don’t think we’ll solve the problem of rubbish in bothies until we address it as a society. It is possible: at one time people would routinely drink and drive but, though it still happens, it’s no longer socially acceptable in the way it once was."
Mr Reid also pointed out: "I’m not a lone litter saint in all this. My fellow maintenance organisers at Corrour – Andy McNicoll and Neil Findlay who has just stood down after about 15 years – have done just as much litter burning and removal, and the MBA is full of volunteers who look after all our bothies and many non-MBA bothies with just as much dedication and effort.
"And bothies are, in general, probably better cared for than ever. But volunteers can’t be there all the time and it takes very little time for a bothy to become a disgusting tip if even a minority of people continue to treat them with such a lack of respect and common decency and consideration for their fellow hill-goers."
