'Memorial blight' fears for popular Eryri peaks

National park authorities have to balance a natural wish to commemorate loved ones with concerns to protect delicate ecosystems. Andrew Forgrave reports

- Andrew Forgrave

CONCERNS over “memorial blight” on Eryri’s mountains (Snowdonia) have been thrown into sharp focus by a shrine for a “bright and cherished” young woman. Flowers, letters and mementoes are still being left on Tryfan’s north ridge where Maria Eftimova fell to her death five months ago.

Her name, and the date of her death, have been painted on a rock face next to butterfly cutouts. It is understood an earlier memorial was removed but friends are determined to honour her memory whenever they return.

Eryri National Park Authority (ENPA) is sensitive to the needs of friends and relatives wanting to remember lost loved ones in places that were special to them. But, worried about the cumulative visual impact of plaques and memorials in a protected environment, these are largely discouraged.

Maria, a structural civil engineer, was in an 18-strong party climbing Tryfan on February 22 when she fell about 65ft. An experienced mountaineer from St Helens, she was declared dead on the mountain despite efforts by friends and mountain rescuers to revive her.

Since then, groups of friends have made climbing trips to Tryfan to remember a woman who touched so many lives. After one visit, a man shared: “Her shrine, as beautiful as ever, was topped up with her favourite flowers and some notes were left at the requests of others.

“Maria, wherever you may be, I hope you're smiling far and wide infecting everyone with your warmth and joy”

Friends described her as a woman whose “vibrant personality, energy and aura touched and uplifted all around her’ A JustGiving appeal raised £19,389 so her family could repatriate Maria's body to Bulgaria.

Some of this was pledged to the Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Organisation whose members had tried to save her.