Guest Article

Keeping It In The Family
– the NTS footpath demo team’s work

By Rory McLeod

In May 2003 Scotland’s first in-house mountain footpath team began work. The so-called Footpath Demonstration Team is employed by the National Trust for Scotland as part of its “Scotland’s Mountain Heritage” Project. This project has received sponsorship from the Scottish Mountaineering Trust to the tune of £20,000, along with major support from the Heritage Lottery Fund and Scottish Natural Heritage.

“Scotland’s Mountain Heritage” is the National Trust for Scotland’s response to footpath erosion on some of Scotland’s most iconic mountains. Buachaille Etive Mor, Ben Lawers, Liathach, the Five Sisters, Ben Lomond and Goatfell all lie on property owned by the Trust and all suffer from footpath erosion. The Trust takes its responsibility to the mountains in its care seriously, and is determined to take a long-term view over the management of erosion problems. There is a conscious effort to move away from the previous “high build – low maintenance” approach, towards sensitive solutions that can be maintained. In this new approach the Trust recognised that it would have to continue to engage contractors to deal with major erosion problems using existing techniques but in addition the Trust needed to employ its own staff to develop novel techniques on sensitive sites and to undertake maintenance of already repaired paths.

Thus the demo team’s three experienced footpath workers began work on three Trust properties at Ben Lomond, Ben Lawers and Glencoe.

Ben Lomond essentially consists of two paths, the Main Path and the Ptarmigan Ridge path and you could often count well over one hundred walkers on either path on a fine summer’s day. In addition, the substrate material on Ben Lomond has a high clay content meaning that without very effective drainage the surface is liable to become quite sticky and unattractive to walk on. Most of the Demo Team’s time at Ben Lomond was spent on constructing a consolidated line at various sections of the Ptarmigan Ridge, together with maintenance of both paths. Work for summer 2004 included works on the main path to the summit and work high up on the Ptarmigan.

At Ben Lawers a different set of problems have been encountered. There are a greater number of paths, and whilst there may not be quite the same concentration of walkers, existence of the minor road in the heart of the hills makes Lawers and the Tarmachan Ridge relatively accessible destinations. Technical difficulties include fairly steep slopes with little in the way of natural path containment.

The team started by working in the North Coire of Beinn Ghlas. It had been over ten years since major work had been carried out here, although the path was in reasonable condition and only minor works were required. Such work will need to be repeated quite regularly, and the North Coire path will be a good indicator of the effectiveness of the demo team. A second stint saw work being carried out to contain the existing path line on Beinn Ghlas from the summit to the visitor centre, with running repairs being made as necessary, and Tarmachan Summit Ridge work is planned for later in the year.

And finally, Glencoe! Glencoe presents a different set of challenges again. Pathwork here is technically challenging, with extremely steep and loose slopes. Luckily there is generally no shortage of stone, however getting it to where you want it can sometimes be tricky! The Team started work in June 2003 on the headwall of Coire nam Beith. The idea was to stabilise the loose screes by providing a single line of ascent / descent without imposing a heavily manufactured looking path upon an inspiring wild landscape, or, less technically, to get the pink stones to turn grey. At the time it was felt that this had been achieved quite effectively, although more will be revealed after this winter’s snow has disappeared. A second stint was spent on the Allt Sidhean descent path from the Aonach Eagach, with a “a stitch in time” approach. Finally a stint was spent doing repairs to the “coffin route” in the Lairig Eilde and during summer 2004 the team started on a solution to the badly scarred headwall of Coire na Tulaich on the Buchaille.

This outline of the work carried out over the first year of the project gives an idea of the physical outputs of the demo team. However, the team also aims to demonstrate the value of a more sustained, but less intrusive, approach to mountain path management, particularly in more sensitive and remote locations. It will be important to engage with mountaineers to guage their views on this new approach – so please don’t be too surprised if you’re asked your views in the months ahead.

The NTS is committed to investing some £2m in its mountain path network over the next 5 years. While generously supported by HLF, SNH and SMT it needs to raise a quarter of this total itself. If you would like to contribute, do so through the ‘Sole Trading’ Appeal leaflet - call 0131-243-9300, or go to the web-site http://www.nts.org.uk/.