Fort William climbing community kickstarts appeal for £100,000 to restore track to North Face of The Ben...
The owners of the land and the higher sections of the track are happy for the development to go ahead, but the snag is the lower section of the track from the car park... "The path route isn't logical," says Alan Kimber, Secretary of the LMAG, "it's basically two sides of a triangle, and we want to re-route the path in a straight line." Unfortunately, the planned route goes through a commercial forest. "Ideally, someone else will buy it, and agree to let us have access. It's been done before in other mountain areas." If you've got a spare £95,000 and fancy owning a piece of prime Scottish real estate, please step forward...
The £100,000 that the LMAG hopes to raise is earmarked for path work, but they're also thinking about building better facilities at the car park to tidy up this overnight stop for late-arriving climbers. Nowt too fancy, just some loos, bins, and a camping area. The clothing company The North Face has already put up £50,000 - nice one.
Have your say, volunteer your path-building skills or make a donation here.
The Lochaber Mountain Access Group was set up in February 2001 in response to blanket access bans imposed during the Foot and Mouth outbreak, and took an active role in persuading local landowners to open up access for walkers and climbers. "These are community-led issues", says Alan Kimber, mountain guide and Secretary of LMAG. "We've all got full-time jobs, but we had a lot of support for our actions during Foot and Mouth, we've got a lot of ideas, and it seemed natural that the LMAG should continue."
