First ever litter pick on hard-to-reach Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) gullies

Access News
05 Sep
8 min read

On Sat 21 September, 40 BMC volunteers will climb Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) to rid the mountain of as much litter as possible in The Big Clean Up event, including the 'waterfall' of trash which has been stuck for decades in the steep and hazardous Trinity Gullies.

The day before, Friday 20 Sept, an abseiling team will collect and bring down the ‘waterfall’ of rubbish stuck in the Trinity Gullies on Clogwyn Y Garnedd, on the north-east side of the mountain, above the lake of Glaslyn. The walking team will then collect and analyse the rubbish on the Saturday.

BMC Access & Conservation Officer for Wales, Tom Carrick, says, “This is an unprecedented event - no one has abseiled down into the Trinity Gullies before to remove this litter, which has accumulated over many, many years. Some of it could have been sitting there since the early 1900s. We will be analysing and categorising what we find in conjunction with Trash Free TrailsState of the Trails report, so it will be very interesting to see just how old this rubbish is.

“We’re not talking about deliberate fly-tipping here on Yr Wyddfa. These gullies are natural debris traps on the lea side of the mountain, so anything left on the summit is likely to end up in them until a dedicated, safely-executed litter pick like this one.

"It’s important to emphasise that everyone is welcome in the outdoors and the vast majority of the 600,000 people visiting Yr Wyddfa each year have great respect for the mountains and the environment; they would never dream of discarding any litter on purpose. Rubbish can be dropped accidentally by anyone, however careful they are, and blown away into these gullies."

Litter that could be 100 years old is stuck in the Trinity Gullies

The Big Clean Up Saturday event will see 40 BMC volunteers in the Upper Glaslyn bowl on the north-east side of Yr Wyddfa with recyclable bags, pickers and protective gloves (usually light gardening gloves). Qualified Mountain Leaders will accompany the team for safety. Partners in this event include: Trash Free Trails, Plantlife, Eryri National Park, Cymdeithas Eryri, RAW Adventures, and the Snowdon Mountain Railway.

Once collected, the rubbish will be sorted and categorised by the volunteers and the Trash Free Trails research team. Trash Free Trails Communications Manager Rachel Coleman says, “There is very little research to understand how much single-use pollution is out there and how it is affecting flora, fauna and human beings. Trash Free Trails aims to find out what has been dropped and educate people about where this pollution ends up. It can be very harmful for wildlife, and here on Yr Wyddfa it’s detrimental to marginal Arctic alpine species.

“So we are asking volunteers to not only remove this pollution while enjoying their local and national trails, but also to tell us what they find through the State of the Trails Report. It’s hugely empowering for people to know they can contribute to a project that has the potential to create massive change in the long term.”

Robbie Blackhall Miles from Plantlife says, “The gulleys of Clogwyn Y Garnedd are home to some of the rarest species in Eryri. The Snowdon Rainbow Beetle makes the cliff its home as do Holly Fern and Alpine Woodsia Fern – all three target species for the ‘Natur am Byth!’ Tlysau Mynydd Eryri/Mountain Jewels of Eryri Project which is led by Plantlife. It is vital that the habitat of these important elements of Wales’ cultural and natural heritage is kept pristine to enable these species to cope with the other issues that threaten them with extinction.”

Litter pickers walk up Snowdon. Photo: Trash Free Trails, Sam Dugon

Will you join us remotely?

You don’t have to be part of The Big Clean Up (now fully booked) to be a litter-picking hero either - everyone can play a part in keeping their local area clean and carrying out any litter from the countryside and mountainside if it is safe to do so.

Join us on Sat 21 September by going out into your local countryside or on your planned mountain walk and picking up as much rubbish as you can. Before you bin it, log what you’ve found on the Trash Free Trails State of the Trails report here.

Then pile it up and take a photo of all your rubbish (plus yourself if you can!) for the BMC’s Summit magazine. The winner of the best trash mountain photo or selfie will win a prize. Email your pics to summit@thebmc.co.uk

The rubbish will all be analysed. Photo: Trash Free Trails, Sam Dugon

A trash-free future

Our vision at the BMC is to work towards litter-free mountains. Here are some simple steps to follow for good practice around waste in the great outdoors:

1 Choose food and drink options with less packaging, for example, take a refillable bottle rather than a single-use plastic one

2 Make a packed lunch in a Tupperware rather than buying a shop-packaged one (this is also cheaper!)

3 Take all your rubbish home

4 Pick up any litter you come across if it is safe to do so (take an extra plastic bag for this if you’re really keen)

Did you know?

Simply becoming a BMC member supports projects like this, plus you get all the benefits that membership offers, including these and many more:

£15 million Worldwide Combined Liability Insurance

£10,000 Personal Accident Insurance

Quarterly member-only magazine, Summit

15% off Cotswold Outdoor, Snow+Rock and Runners Need

BMC Travel Insurance

Join the BMC

Cotswold Outdoor Discount

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