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<DIV>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. </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>John M. Ross<BR>Windsor, Nova Scotia,
Canada.<BR><A
href="mailto:jrpiano@win.eastlink.ca">jrpiano@win.eastlink.ca</A></FONT></STRONG></DIV></BODY></HTML>