The Snowdonia National Park Authority has asked hikers to use the toilet facilities at the bottom of Snowdon after receiving reports of human faeces along the popular paths. It follows a guide reportedly catching a man defecating on the railway line on the mountain.
Hikers caught short have reportedly defecated in paper cups or along the path, then hidden the evidence under stones, leaving other climbers to watch their step. Snowdonia National Park's engagement officer, Helen Pye, spoke to BBC Wales about the issue.
She explained that there was no need to add more toilets along the path, but instead, hikers should prepare more effectively before setting off along the walk. She also rejected claims that the toilets were closed.
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She said: "It's an amazing special, beautiful mountain environment. I think the most appropriate thing is to have toilets at the foot of the paths and not be littering the mountain with things like that. This is unfortunately a small minority that perhaps aren't as well prepared, let's say and get caught short, and most of the visitors to Snowdon are fantastic, they come well prepared. They're aware that they're off on a mountain hike and they listen to the messages that we put out to kind of go before you hike and use those facilities at the bottom of all the main paths."
Her statement follows comments from Snowdon guide Gemma Davies, who claims she saw a man defecating on the mountain's railway line. During her sunrise guide hike up the mountain on Saturday, she explained the issue was so bad she was warning her group to "mind the poo."
"There was a lot of stool in paper cups, under stones, and as we were descending it was on the path," she said. "I caught a guy going to the toilet on the railway line. He quickly pulled up his pants and tried to make a quick getaway. But I had already seen it, my group had already seen it. And we had to walk past it as well." One explanation put forward by Ms Davies was that the toilets at the top of the mountain were closed. To keep up to date with the latest news from across Wales sign up for our newsletters here.
