'Waterfall' of rubbish cascades down Mount Snowdon including drinks bottles and Santa hats

From a misplaced Santa hat to plastic bottles and rucksack covers, The British Mountaineering Council volunteers removed 2,765 items of litter from the iconic mountain during a two-day daredevil clean up.

During the weekend in late September, the cleaning crew abseiled down into the Trinity Gullies on Clogwyn Y Garnedd, a steep area on the north-east side of the mountain, to retrieve the ‘waterfall’ of rubbish that had accumulated over many years.

Equipped with recyclable bags, pickers, and protective gloves, the team worked under the guidance of qualified mountain leaders.

It's the first time that climbers have abseiled down the mountain to collect litter from the treacherous, hard-to-reach gullies.

They said 62 per cent of the items collected were single-use products, including 300 confectionary wrappers and 274 plastic water bottles. Lucozade, Redbull, CocaCola and Moster were the most prevalent brands of drinks containers.

Tom Carrick, BMC Access & Conservation Officer for Wales, emphasised the significance of this operation: "The most staggering realisation was the amount of single use plastic bottles within the gullies, I look forward to working with my colleagues across Eryri to begin to find a solution to encourage the use of reusable bottles on the mountainside.”

The team of volunteers, with support from the experts at Trash Free Trails, were encouraged to document their findings as part of the State of the Trails Report, contributing to broader environmental research and awareness.

The BMC and Trash Free Trails have been pushing for the quick introduction of the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), a government policy which has been delayed until October 2027, four years later than planned.

They say a third of the rubbish removed in September could have been avoided with the scheme, which would introduce a deposit on single-use drinks containers which is refunded upon return of the container.

Tom Carrick added: “The Yr Wyddfa Big Clean Up was the first time we have accessed the Clogwyn Y Garnedd gullies, one of the rarest Alpine habitats in the British Isles.

"One of the starkest issues was the volume of single-use plastic bottles; this appears to be one of the simplest items to rid from the mountain. A DRS in Wales and England, would encourage a much greater care and thought over what pollution was taken onto the mountain.”

Dom Ferris, Founder and Managing Director of Trash Free Trails, said: “"Thanks to the BMC we’ve been able to leave a positive trace on what is a really inaccessible area of the mountain, one that has never been cleaned before.

"And by partnering with Plantlife, Eryri National Park, Cymdeithas Eryri, RAW Adventures, Snowdon Mountain Railway and with permission from the Baron Hill Estate, we’ve also been able to take it one step further and enable over 40 volunteers to take positive action, and learn more about how a policy as simple as a DRS could have a profound impact on a place they love. It’s a no brainer really."