'X Factor' bid to strip Ben Nevis of banana skins

THE blight of banana skins on Ben Nevis is set to be tackled by a leading wildlife charity if they can win an X Factor-style contest to land £25,000 in funding.

The John Muir Trust, which campaigns to preserve the UK's wilderness areas, has been involved in a long-running effort to clear litter from Britain's highest mountain.

Last year they revealed that in one clean-up 1,000 banana skins were found on the Ben's summit plateau. Now the trust has entered a contest funded by the Swiss-based European Outdoor Group to secure extra money to tackle the litter problem.

The public has been invited to vote for one of six projects in the contest, organised by outdoor magazine Trail, with the most popular entrant landing the prize.

John Muir Trust spokesman Rory Syme said: "We'd love as many people to vote for us as possible.

"Ben Nevis is quite unlike any other mountain in Britain with an arctic plateau, a gigantic north face, and the beautiful Steall gorge. The area offers some of the best walks, scrambles and climbs in the UK.

"However, with over 150,000 visits a year, this unique mountain environment is under constant pressure and takes a lot of looking after.

"We face an ongoing battle to remove the rubbish which blights the mountain."