BB FANS

Telegraph
(Filed: 17/05/2006)

Conservationists are struggling to explain how a piano came to be at the top of Britain's highest mountain.

---
The paino was broken up by volunteers

Volunteers clearing litter from Ben Nevis this weekend discovered the instrument - which is believed to have been on the mountain for 20 years - 600ft below the summit.

Nigel Hawkins, director of the John Muir Trust, a Ben Nevis conservation charity, said: "Our guys couldn't believe their eyes.

"At first they thought it was just the wooden casing but then they saw the whole cast iron frame complete with strings.

"The only thing that was missing was the keyboard - and that's another mystery."

A biscuit wrapper with a best before date of December 1986 was found under the piano, giving a clue to when it was taken up the mountain, but not why.

Sandy Maxwell, organiser of the volunteer group, said the piano was the largest, heaviest and most unusual object they had ever found on the mountain, which is 4,418ft high.

She said: "We have a constant battle against litter being left on Britain's highest mountain - but this elevates being a litter lout sky high into a completely different category."

After finding the piano, the volunteers broke it up and asked around 30 members of the public to help carry bits off the mountain.

how odd

I knew I left it somewhere.

you would do any thing to wriggle out of practising those scales eh?

09:54am 18th May 2006

The mystery surrounding the discovery of a piano near the top of Britain's highest mountain appeared to have been solved.

Volunteers clearing stones from the 4,4118ft peak were stunned when they discovered the musical instrument on Ben Nevis at the weekend.

Kenny Campbell, a woodcutter from Bonar Bridge in the Highlands, claims the piano is actually an organ, which he carried up the mountain for a cancer charity in 1971.

Mr Campbell said: "It took me four days to get the organ to the top and when I did I played Scotland the Brave.

"I am quite sure that what they found is the organ. It had no keys on it because I stripped them off and gave them to friends - I had quite a lot of fans in those days."

icScotland

A former Highland Games athlete believes he can identify the remains of a musical instrument found buried on Ben Nevis.

-----------------------------------------

Kenny Campbell said he carried a 226lb organ to the top of Britain's highest mountain in 1971 after an aborted attempt to carry a piano on his back.

The 64-year-old, from Ardgay, said he left the organ on the peak with the intention of going back for it.

BBC

and I thought 64 year olds, could still get it up.

I thought it was a joke at first! but how strange!

I tried to leave one of my sisters up Snowdon once...

Sat 20 May 2006
Scotsman
LUCY CHRISTIE

THE true story of how a piano found its way up Britain's highest mountain has finally been revealed.

Clean-up volunteers discovered the musical instrument near the 4,408ft summit of Ben Nevis at the weekend and appealed for help in solving the mystery over the find.

The Scotsman reported that Kenny Campbell, a woodcutter from Bonar Bridge in the Highlands, believed he may have carried it up the mountain for a cancer charity in 1971.

But a "best before" date on a biscuit wrapper found near the piano told a different story.

The John Muir Conservation Trust, who launched the appeal, said yesterday the instrument was carried by a group of removal men from Dundee in 1986, who were hoping to raise money for charity.

Mike Clark and his friends celebrated their achievement 20 years ago with a bottle of whisky and a packet of McVities biscuits.

Nigel Hawkins, director of the trust, said: "We are delighted to have solved the mystery of the piano on Ben Nevis. An organ was carried up by Kenneth Campbell in 1971 but we can say definitely that it was not an organ that was found, as there was an iron frame with metal strings.

"The biscuit wrapper which said 'Best before 13 December, 1986', which we found in the cairn gives further proof that this was the piano Mike and his friends took up the mountain."

He believed he MAY have carried it up the mountain lol im pretty sure that I would remember carrying a piano to the top of Ben Nevis

Depends on how much 'MALT' he consumed during the trip