Team Geared Up

Big thanks to FJR, of (the actually work-safe) Dublin Erections Blog for tipping me off by text message last night that a Piano had been discovered near the top of Ben Nevis in Scotland (1344m).

The piano was discovered by a conservation group who were removing stone Cairns (big piles of stones made by people to mark tracks) as they are a navigation hazard (people following them blindly without map/compass). Apparently the piano was found under a Cairn!

Photo of the find John Muir Trust Page.

How did it get there…? The Scotsman seems to have the answer:

But last night the musical mystery may have been solved after Kenny Campbell, a veteran charity fundraiser, told The Scotsman the “piano” was probably an organ he carried to the top in 1971.

Mr Campbell recalled how he singlehandedly carried the 226lb organ up Ben Nevis and then played Scotland the Brave on it. The feat earned him a place in the Guinness Book of Records.

The same year he had pushed a piano to 1,000ft before it dragged him over a ledge. Mr Campbell, from Bonar Bridge in Sutherland, has also carried a plough, a gas cylinder and a barrel of beer to the summit to raise hundreds of thousands of pounds for charities. He is planning a new stunt for his 65th birthday this year.

He said last night: “I think you’ll find this is the organ I took to the summit. I left it at the top and there was a bit of a row about it, so I went back up to clear it later that year.

“I went up by torchlight during the night and could only find two boards, which I handed over in the morning.

“It is likely that it is the same organ. I carried it up and if they want me to take it down I’ll carry it down for them.”

While I have the picture :-)

Read about the other things that have made it to the top! A bed, A Car, A Barrel of Beer, A Hotel, A Horse & Cart.