Interesting news from Scotland.
http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=737892006
Mystery of Ben Nevis piano ‘solved’
JOHN ROSS
- Enigmatic keyboard instrument turns up on Ben Nevis
- Clean-up of Britain’s highest peak uncovers mystery
- But strong man thinks he has the answer
Key quote “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.” - Nigel Hawkins of the John Muir Trust
Story in full
HILLWALKERS on Britain’s highest mountain have become accustomed to picking their way through discarded crisp bags, bottles and sweet wrappers as they make their way to the top.
But when a volunteer squad from the John Muir Trust decided to undertake a clean-up of Ben Nevis, they found a rather unusual piece of litter under a cairn at 4,000ft - the remains of a piano.
Now the trust - which helps to look after the mountain - has launched an investigation to find out how the instrument got there - and why.
Nigel Hawkins, the trust’s director, 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 missing was the keyboard - and that’s another mystery.”
Sandy Maxwell, who organised the clean-up team, said the discovery was made when the team was reducing the number of cairns on the summit from 100 to 25 last weekend.
He said: "The piano was found in one of the larger ones. We know cairns are often used to harbour rubbish, but we never expected to find something like this.
“We are now trying to track down who took it there. We may even give them an outstanding invoice for 20 years’ storage of a piano under a cairn on Ben Nevis.”
But last night the musical mystery may have been solved