Mountaineers to help care for Three Peaks paths

Thanks to the country’s leading organisation for mountain-loving people, lovers of the Yorkshire Dales National Park could soon have the chance to get involved personally in looking after the beautiful landscape. 

The BMC is launching a crowd-funding campaign called ‘Mend our Mountains’ to raise at least £100,000 for environmental projects put forward by national parks within the UK. The campaign is being backed by renowned mountaineers Sir Chris Bonington and Doug Scott and TV celebrity Julia Bradbury.

Everyone who makes a donation will be able to say which project they want their money to be spent on – and one of the schemes centres on the Yorkshire Dales Three Peaks.

The Swine Tail network of paths on Ingleborough has become badly eroded because of the huge numbers of walkers using it each year, and the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority (YDNPA) has submitted a scheme to ‘Mend our Mountains’ to renovate it.

The Authority’s Three Peaks Manager, Steve Hastie,  said the BMC campaign recognised that everyone had a responsibility to help in the management of some of the busiest paths in the country.

“This is a fantastic chance for anyone and everyone who has walked to the top of Ingleborough or who just loves the area to generate vital funds to help keep the paths in A1 shape for the hundreds of thousands of people who use them ever year,” he said.

“We hope people will support our bid and pick us – and we’ve got some excellent and unusual rewards for the different levels of donations they make.”

The campaign will run from March 14 to May 14 and the money raised will be channelled to the different projects through the BMC’s Access & Conservation Trust. The BMC’s Mend our Mountains crowd-funding page at www.crowdfunder.co.uk/mendourmountains will be active from the launch day.

The BMC’s Hill Walking Development Officer, Carey Davies, said: “The BMC is thrilled to have a peak as iconic as Ingleborough as a part of Mend Our Mountains. Like many Yorkshire folk, I braved the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge when I was a teenager and now remember it as a landmark in learning to love the outdoors.

“More people experiencing the outdoors is good news for our collective wellbeing, culture and economy and, in the case of the Three Peaks, it can also raise millions for charitable causes. But it puts pressure on the landscape and paths like Swine Tail take the strain.

“By donating to Mend Our Mountains and helping repair the Swine Tail you are not just helping build a path – you’re making all the benefits of adventure more sustainable for the future.”

Photograph: courtesy of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority