Rescuers frozen out of Ben Nevis emergency shelter turned 'human toilet' and rubbish tip

A summit shelter on the country's highest mountain is now out of bounds to rescue teams after it was turned into a toilet and rubbish dump by irresponsible climbers.

The shelter on Ben Nevis is now littered with abandoned tents, clothes, food and drinks packaging, a spokesman for Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team said.

Human faeces have also been found with the shelter now “smelling of pee”, leaving rescuers unable to take casualties to the space.

The state of the shelter was discovered by Lochaber MRT on a recent call out to a climber who fractured his leg.

Mountain rescuers are unable to use the summit shelter on Ben Nevis after climbers left behind tents, clothing and rubbish - as well as human waste. PIC: Lochaber MRT.

Mike Smith, treasurer, said it was now a “complete and utter no no” to take a casualty to the shelter for treatment given the state of the place.

Mr Smith said: “The shelter is meant to be for emergency use. When you are in trouble and the weather comes in, you can go in for a bit of respite.

“Occasionally, if we bring someone up the mountain as we are near the top, we will take them in to repackage them up before the descent. We would get them in a survival bag or perhaps need to stop bleeding or administer drugs. It’s good to have a sheltered area to do these things.

Ben Nevis is Scotland's highest mountain and attracts scores of climbers to complete a one-off walking challenge, but there are concerns that responsible outdoor use messages aren't getting to those who don't regularly take to the hills. PIC: Getty/acceleratorhams

"At times we have done some quite serious medical interventions in there – but that is a complete and utter no no at the moment.

"It is full of abandoned tents, clothing and rubbing and people have been using it as a toilet. There are human faeces in there and the whole place stinks of pee.”

Large ropes used by team are stored underneath the shelter, but with the door left open, hard ice has been allowed to form inside.

He added: “That would take around 20 to 30 minutes for us to chip away. Then you have the issue of going down there and the whole place is dripping with urine. Anyone going in there would have to be totally rubber-gloved up.”

Mr Smith said team members were “scratching their heads” over how to deal with the issue.

He said messages over responsible outdoor use didn’t appear to be getting to the right people, with many of those climbing Ben Nevis doing so as a one-off mountain challenge.

Mr Smith added: “We are not quite sure what to do. Ben Nevis is a very unique mountain. It generates millions of pounds for charity, which is great.

“But a lot of people who go up there, for a project or whatever, won’t consider going up another mountain.

"We always think that the messaging on the outdoor code is moving around in an echo chamber.”

He suggested a public service announcement-style campaign – like those regularly seen in the 1980s – to address the issues of responsible outdoor use.

Mr Smith added: “What really blows my mind is people carry one litre or two litre bottles of water to the top of the mountain and then chuck it when the bottle weighs a tenth of what it did. Nobody is coming to pick that up.

Mr Smith said Lochaber Mountain Rescue would now have to arrange a clean-up of the summit shelter.

"It just adds another time constraint on our members – time away from our work, time away from our families.”

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