Mend Our Mountains Set Sights On Cut Gate

Mend Our Mountains (MoM) is a campaign headed by the British Mountaineering Council, aimed at restoring and maintaining iconic trails with sensitivity. Previously, they’ve raised funds for repairs to Snowdon, Scafell Pike, Ingleborough, Kinder Scout, part of the Brecon Beacons Horseshoe, and has contributed to moorland repairs on Dartmoor, Exmoor and the North York Moors. It’s for all ourdoor trail users rather than mountain bike specific, but their next campaign target was identified by mountain bikers and is centred on a path close to lots of mountain biking hearts: Cut Gate.

MoM previously raised over a hundred thousand pounds via crowdfunding for vital trail repairs all over the UK. This time, they’re aiming to raise a million pounds. You can read a bit more about Mend Our Mountains here.

If you haven’t heard of them before, here’s a bit of background from their first campaign too:

(No embedded video? Here’s a link).

Insensitive trail repairs by local authorities have been relatively common and aggravating for mountain bikers in the past few years. Councils have to cater to a wide variety of different trail users, and often the most cost effective way they see of doing that is to flatten any natural features then pave them with gravel, treating trails like minor roads rather than a part of the landscape. Mend Our Mountains is aiming to do things with more sensitivity for users and that natural landscape.

Full release:

“MEND OUR MOUNTAINS IS BACK – AND CUT GATE PATH IS ON THE LIST!

“The BMC’s groundbreaking Mend Our Mountains campaign is back and Peak District MTB, Ride Sheffield and Keeper of the Peak are proud to announce that our Cut Gate project has been adopted by the campaign, led by the BMC and working in partnership with all 15 UK National Parks.

“The project aims to sensitively reinforce the path with minimal impact on the landscape and the character of the trail. We’re going to raise £75,000 to complete important work on the top boggy sections, commonly known as the Bog of Doom.

“The path is an iconic ‘classic’ in the outdoors community. Loved by mountain bikers, walkers, horse riders, fell runners and many more. But it’s also fragile and struggling to cope with the amount of users it has.

“The trail is widening, affecting the peat moorlands which make it a destination for thousands.

“Led by Moors for the Future and the Peak District National Park, Cut Gate will be one of the top projects earmarked for fundraising in the BMC’s campaign. The Peak District National Park has also succeeded in getting the Great Ridge on to the list; one of only two national parks with two backed projects.

“It’s brilliant to get Cut Gate backed by the BMC,” says Si Bowns from Ride Sheffield. “This was an issue identified by the mountain biking community and driven forward by them in collaboration with other user groups. The mountain biking community has led this drive and now to have it picked up by the BMC’s brilliant national campaign is recognition of how effectively they’ve done things so far.”

“And it’s a big campaign. This year, the BMC aims to Make One Million in the Mend Our Mountains campaign and are seeking donations from individuals and companies large and small.

“Access and Rights of Way Manager for the Peak District Mike Rhodes said “The Mend Our Mountains, Make One Million campaign is a fantastic opportunity for The Peak District National Park to work with partners to raise vital funds for path repair work on The Great Ridge and at Cut Gate. Just as important is working with user groups including Peak District MTB, Ride Sheffield and Keeper of the Peak, to raise awareness of the challenges of looking after the recreational landscape and foster a sense of collective public responsibility”.

“It’s down to us now,” says Chris Maloney, Keeper of the Peak and PDMTB committee member, “We’ve already shown that we’re realistic and pragmatic about our impact on the places we ride – now it’s time to literally put our money where our mouth is and dig deep!

“We want to hear from anyone who can back the campaign, in any way. We want to hear from companies or individuals – anything you can do to help sensitively protect this iconic trail for future generations is massively welcome.”

“The groups have a number of different ways you can support the campaign, but if you want to simply donate, then please visit any of the sites below.”

WEB: mendmountains.thebmc.co.uk
RESOURCES: KOFTHEP.COM / CUTGATE.ORG (POSTERS, FLYERS)
IMAGES: Credit Radventure/Sim Mainey”