Have you ever walked to the top of Yorkshire’s highest hill?
One of Yorkshire’s famous Three Peaks, Whernside is suffering from its popularity – and needs your help.
At 736 metres and offering great views, Whernside is a fantastic walk, and it’s estimated that 80,000 people climb to the summit every year.
Whether you are walking it to enjoy the view, as part of a challenge, or simply to get away from it all, it’s certainly worth the effort.
But popularity comes at a price and the pressure from the boots of vast numbers of walkers is taking its toll on the mountain’s network of paths. The resulting erosion is damaging fragile habitats and creating ever-widening scars on our most iconic landscape.
Why is repairing footpaths important?
Walkers are in danger of damaging what they have come to visit. A sustainable path, that is able to withstand this high level of user pressure, enables walkers to enjoy the pleasure of getting to the summit, without contributing to more erosion.
To help stop Yorkshire’s highest mountain being ‘loved to death’ we are asking for your help.
Our Pitch in for Whernside campaign – part of the British Mountaineering Council’s ‘Mend Our Mountains: Make One Million’ fundraiser – aims to raise £46,000 to repair a section of severely eroded footpath.
Loved to death: the eroded path coming off the summit of Whernside
The ‘Bruntscar’ path runs down from the summit of Whernside heading towards Chapel-le-Dale and is on the main route of the Yorkshire Three Peaks challenge.
A combination of weather, footfall, drainage issues and the steep incline has caused the existing path surface to slip and erosion to occur on the side of the fell.
The proposed project involves stone pitching 228 metres of path – using large blocks of irregular stone to create random steps – and landscaping the adjacent areas of erosion.
We think Whernside’s worth it – we hope you do too!
If you want to help us reach our target please donate today at Mend Our Mountains
