From Rampant Scotland.com Newsletter

[Ron Nossaman]

> When volunteers from the John Muir Trust began to clear up the rubbish 
> and proliferating cairns on the top of Ben Nevis, Scotland's highest 
> mountain, they were astonished to find the remains of a piano (minus 
> only the keyboard) under a pile of rocks. The Trust owns the 4,400 feet 
> high peak which is climbed by 120,000 people a year. The Trust had 
> become concerned about the trash left behind and the 100 or so cairns 
> that had been built around the summit - many as memorials to loved ones. 
> When the mystery of the piano reached the newspapers, there were a 
> number of claims from people who said they had carried it up the slopes 
> to the top - including someone who had carried an organ there in 1971. 
> The Trust suggested, lightheartedly, that they would invoice the owner 
> for 20 years of storage on Ben Nevis. A biscuit wrapper with a sell-by 
> date of December 1986, which was found with the instrument, was 
> initially the only clue. Eventually the "litter louts" were identified 
> as a group of 24 removal men who had carried it to the summit to raise 
> money for charity. The climb had proved to be more exhausting than 
> anticipated and they had broken it up and buried it under a pile of 
> stones, rather than attempt to carry it back down again. The absence of 
> the keyboard was because they had taken that back down the mountain and 
> then given a key to everyone who had taken part, as a souvenir.
> *John M. Ross


Too bad the keys were gone. Otherwise, a good vacuuming and a 
liter or two of CA, and it would be ready to go. That is, if 
the casters are still ok.
Ron N