Bothy Rubbish

[Wildfisher]

I noted in the latest MBA newsletter there is an ongoing litter issue in some locations. Not just  your standard tin, bottle and plastic bag rubbish either; dumped stuff includes tents, sleeping bags and even a telescope.

This really is very depressing. The MBA does  a great job, but I have to ask what do they expect?  If you publicise places, be they nice views, good lochs and yes, bothies and worse still do it on open web sites you are creating an  enhanced  focal point. A powerful magnet.  If  you leave them open to all and sundry you are naive in the extreme if you think this won't happen.

[SoldierPmr]

What would happen if some one decided to take residence in a bothy? Would there be ways of removing them?

[Wildfisher]

It's possible the owners  would close the bothy if the agreement with the MBA  was being abused. Prolonged stays or commercial use  is not allowed without permission of the owners.

[Bobfly]

Crap , in the rubbish sense , has been a problem for years from way back and had diminished for a long time now it is back again. I helped bring in a new MBA bothy once and after it was restored it had to be completely abandoned after a few years because it was so heavily vandalised and messed about. That was 18 years ago.

[Wildfisher]

been a problem for years from way back and had diminished for a long time now it is back again

The website  perhaps? Prior to the Internet bothies tended to be known in climbing circles, or perhaps mentioned in books.

[Fishtales]

The website  perhaps? Prior to the Internet bothies tended to be known in climbing circles, or perhaps mentioned in books.

You're saying it isn't members who are trashing it Fred?
I've seen club members who would trash their own loch and poach it too if the got away with it. There are people everywhere who see other peoples property as disposable and wouldn't take care of it no matter where it was. Even the most respectable people will trash a holiday lodge or caravan in the middle of 300 other ones never mind in the middle of nowhere. I've seen it first hand.

[Inchlaggan]

The website  perhaps?

Quite possibly, but t'interweb is not to blame.
Yes it makes information instantly available to all (including feckwits) but so did books, radio, television and much else in their time.
And, along with the other media just named, it has the power to educate for good.
Simple applications of technology that already exists would make it possible to catch these tossers and name and shame on t'interweb.
I'm making this up as I go along- the forum will doubtless provide better solutions- but a solar powered lock that requires a would be user to log-in via a mobile phone app to open the door is one notion as would be a simple camera trap.
Slightly off topic, but this is the tale that got me hooked on the power of t'interweb.
It happened in the days of CompuServe and AOL on dial-up.
A baby was born in the south of England and immediately placed on life support as she had an extremely rare form of muscular dystrophy, fatal within days. In view of this bleak outlook her parents went home for the weekend to think through their decision as to her fate- switch off or await the inevitable. Her father worked in IT and had access to the web, he searched frantically for any information on his daughter's condition, prognosis and possible treatment and found nothing. I saw his attempts to get information from MDA (the US charity) via their chat room as did the director of muscular dystrophy research in the UK. She 'phoned the only person in the world to have successfully treated such a case who was happy to help by providing all his notes. There was a problem in that his notes identified the patient and could not be passed on without permission. The problem was solved the simple process of "find and replace" in the documents but the size of the files remained an issue. This was solved by a professor going into his university where large files could be handled. On the Monday the father could present all the information required to his daughter's carers. She is still with us today and lives a limited but fulsome life.

[Wildfisher]

The issue of publicity vs litter and rubbish seems to be something the MBA struggles with. There was a paragraph about it in the latest news letter.

[Bobfly]

I am admittedly old tech, but the last thing I want is to carry some mobile device with an app that allows me to access a door.

[Wildfisher]

Even if the MBA wanted to make the bothies members only, which they don't, it's highly doubtful they could do so and retain their charitable status.