Ben Nevis clean-up: Underwear and half a toilet seat among rubbish cleared off mountain

It's one of Scotland's most iconic attractions. But the popularity of Ben Nevis comes at a cost, with visitors regularly dropping mountains of rubbish on the UK's highest peak.

Ben Nevis, the highest point in Scotland and the UK. Pic: Shutterstock

In the latest clean up bid, volunteers collected nearly 375lb (170Kg) of items from the slopes - including part of a toilet, a military flare and underwear.

About 100,000 people reach the summit of the 4,112ft-high mountain each year.

Founder of the challenge, Rich Pyne, said: "If every person that went up Ben Nevis took down one piece of litter, the hill would be spotless in about 18 months. Just a thought."

The operation at the weekend was part of a project dubbed the Real3Peaks Challenge, which also involves cleaning up Snowdon in Wales and Scafell Pike in the Lake District.

Clean up events also take place on other peaks such as Bennachie in Aberdeenshire, Ben Macdui in the Cairngorms, Lochnagar in the Grampians and Ben Lomond.

The items collected from the slopes of Ben Nevis on Saturday filled 34 bin bags.

Other finds included poo bags, toilet role and wipes, plastic and glass bottles, cans, socks, t-shirts, cigarette ends, sweet wrappers, crisp packets, an umbrella, a sleeping bag and a beach shelter.

Banana skins were also plentiful, as they just solidify in freezing temperatures for a lot of the year. Last year, the team found an empty peanut packet which looked a couple of years old but was in fact dated 1987.

Mr Pyne said the rubbish haul was "quite a lot," especially because the hill is litter-picked regularly by trusts, charities, volunteers and hillwalkers.

He said that, in previous years, volunteers have collected up to 250Kg of rubbish during a clean up.

They started doing the Real3Peaks clean ups in 2013.