'Waterfalls' of rubbish including Santa hats cascade down Mount Snowdon in heartbreaking pictures

Shocking footage has emerged of 'waterfalls' of over 3,000 pieces of rubbish, including discarded drinks cans and even a lost hat, left behind by visitors on Mount Snowdon.

Masses of waste including plastic bottles, on Yr Wyddfa Mountain in as it is now known, has prompted urgent calls to action from volunteers.

A recent litter-pick on the iconic mountain, described as 'unprecedented', left volunteers stunned as they realised they had only scratched the surface of the problem. The British Mountaineering Council volunteers collected a staggering 2,765 items of litter from Yr Wyddfa over two days, with 63 per cent of the items (1,737) being single-use products.

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The most common brands found were Lucozade, Redbull, and CocaCola/Monster. On the first day of the clean-up on September 20, a team of experts abseiled into the Trinity Gullies on Clogwyn Y Garnedd, a steep area on the north-east side of the mountain, to retrieve the accumulated 'waterfall' of rubbish.

This pioneering litter collection effort is the first of its kind. Tom Carrick, BMC Access & Conservation Officer for Wales, highlighted the significance of this operation, saying: "It's been amazing to see this finally happen after nearly a year of planning after our initial conversations.

"We've had lots of positive conversations with members of the public walking up and enjoying their own day out. This I still believe is the start of this work, we will look at what we'd do differently in the future, but also how we bring this work out to changing our behaviours and attitudes about what we take into the mountains.

"For me, the most staggering realisation was the amount ofwithin 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."

On Saturday, a team of 40 volunteers gathered in the Upper Glaslyn bowl to collect and sort rubbish. Armed with recyclable bags, pickers, and protective gloves, they worked under the supervision of qualified Mountain Leaders. The event aimed not only to remove single-use pollution but also to educate and empower the outdoor community.

The volunteers, supported by experts from Trash Free Trails, were urged to document their findings for the State of the Trails Report, contributing to wider environmental research and awareness. Dom Ferris, Founder and Managing Director of Trash Free Trails, stated: "Our mission is to connect people with nature through the simple yet meaningful act of removing single-use pollution from the places we love.

"One of our core values is that we never use blame, shame, guilt, or aggression. This principle is especially important when working on Yr Wyddfa."

Environmental activists are pushing for a shift in terminology, highlighting the severe impact of carelessly discarded items on nature. They're urging a move to the phrase 'single-use pollution' from 'litter', stating: "One of the reasons we use the term 'single-use pollution' instead of 'litter' is because we have strong evidence that when these single-use products escape into the environment, they harm our wildlife, flora, and overall experience, thus meeting the definition of

The group added: "A large percentage of what we’ve found in the gullies are single-use products. By focusing on single-use pollution and its effects, we have a real chance of making a difference." Although there was a notable clean-up on Yr Wyddfa, the BMC acknowledges that much rubbish remains.

Their commitment to ecological preservation is unwavering as they, alongside partners like Trash Free Trails, Plantlife, Eryri National Park, Cymdeithas Eryri, RAW Adventures, the Baron Hill Estate, and the strive to continue the momentum of the project.