UKC

On Saturday 31st August a mass Wainwright record attempt will see around 600 people climbing 107 fells in the Lake District to mark the launch of an environmental charity founded by a local teen. Each fell will host a unique event, from five-a-side football on High Street to a Brass band on Lattrigg. There's still time to get involved.

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So a normal August Saturday in the Lake District then...

It if's an Environmental Event will the 600+ people be leaving their cars at home, or will the car parks near those 100+ fells be unusually busy?

And will those 600+ people be taking only photographs and leaving only very slight footprints?

From their website:

In conjunction with Mike Berners-Lee we have produced a guide to keeping the day as low carbon as possible through travel, food and clothing. This guide will be sent to all participants on signing up to the event. In addition Another Way are planting 1700 trees in Matterdale in the Autumn in partnership with the Tree Council to offset the carbon footprint from the event.

...and...

It goes without saying that we would like all participants to follow the countryside code. Additionally we ask all Ambassadors and Supporters to follow main paths and to pick up any litter that they see during the day. Let's leave the fells in a better state than when we started.

I'm not involved in the event aside form reporting it here, but I'm not convinced its environmental footprint is a big worry. Sure, it'd be more 'sustainable' if all 600+ people stayed at home, but then it wouldn't be getting much of a message out...

Why not just plant the trees anyway? 

Sounds like a good day to go to Wales.

I'm not the person to ask. But if I were, I'd probably say something along the lines of my last line above

I have to say that I think this is a terrible event.

I applaud anyone that wants a more sustainable future but this seems the wrong way to try and achieve it. Brass bands, five a side football... it all seems wrong to me. WHY CAN'T PEOPLE JUST GO FOR A WALK IN THE FELLS!, why do they have to try and break a record or need these gimmicks. It is just sensationalising everything.

Anyone that thinks this is going to be good for the environment is living on cloud cuckoo land.

Rant over 

Extreme HYPOCRISY in practice.

DC

Why not rig up a few zip wires too? Maybe a gondola?

I thought it was August not April.

I’m not one to usually comment on these forums however this one left me a bit perplexed....I applaud anyone who wants to do their bit, however small or seemingly hypocritical by many ( we all tend to be hypocrites if we’re  truthful) but an environmental event in the lakes! A sheep destroyed ecosystem that is crying out for millions of trees, not a few thousand! Wake up people this is madness on an epic scale that requires action on an epic scale. Ok rant over climb on....

I am not sure that AW would approve! In fact I am sure he wouldn't.

Yeah, I hate that.  Mind you, I'm always prepared to make an exception in my own case.

No hypocrisy Dave, this is being championed by the same folks who champion those awful climbing festivals. 

But, of course, climbing is different, isn't it? 

I agree.

I had a discussion recently (on the FB 'Ground Condition in UK mountain areas' site) with  a group leader whose organisation takes disadvantaged kids out on  3 peaks and other challenge events .  He basically said that the damage they did  environmentally was outweighed by the social and personal benefits of the activities and that doing the challenges bred respect for the environment   It felt like a lazy, facile argument that inevitably leads to the degradation of the resource. Think up something  that retains the personal  challenge but is more sustainable

Not sure we should base decisions we need to make today on a travel guide written in the past?!? That’s the trouble with todays view of the past, we tend to pickle it in aspic and romanticise it with fury and damnation for anyone who disagrees.....