Conservation body the John Muir Trust (JMT) is consulting with the Mountaineering Council of Scotland's Safety Committee and Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team to determine what, if anything, should be done with both the top marker post on the lip of Coire Leis and the No 4 Gully Marker on the summit plateau of Ben Nevis, both of which are on land owned by the charity.
© Dan Bailey
As a wild land charity the Trust has a presumption against structures, way markers and poles on the summit.
'Currently there are numerous structures and poles which have been placed there over the years' say the JMT. 'If there isn't a clear reason for these to remain then we aim to remove them, after consultation with relevant bodies.'
'We still need to produce a detailed proposal for discussion, but so far it seems that the Coire Leis marker post could reasonably be replaced with a cairn, similar to those which lead to the summit from the main path. The position with the Number 4 Gully Marker appears to be more complex and needs to be discussed with both the MCofS and Lochaber MRT.'
Once the JMT have formed a proposal they'll invite comments from Trust members and anyone with an interest in the summit of the Ben, whether they are guides, rescuers, walkers or climbers.
'We'll aim to publicise this as widely as we can so that people have a chance to comment before a decision is made' they promise. UKC users have already been expressing a typically wide range of views on this topic - see this forum thread.
The current policy on the management of the summit of Ben Nevis can be viewed on the JMT website.
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