Mountain of lies??

BBC's mountain myth: Did Griff Rhys Jones reach the top of Ben Nevis?

Last updated at 14:15pm on 19th November 2007 Comments (1)

The BBC is at the centre of a new TV fakery row today after it was alleged Griff Rhys Jones never reached the summit of Britain's tallest mountain Ben Nevis.

Just hours after the team behind Mountain won a Scottish Bafta for Best Factual Entertainment last night, leading climbers are questioning whether the documentary was truly factual.

Welsh TV presenter Rhys Jones, 54, climbed mountains and peaks throughout Britain for the BBC1 series, which was broadcast between July and August this year.

In the Ben Nevis episode, broadcast on August 12, Rhys Jones is seen making three attempts to scale the Scottish mountain.

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Checking out the view: But from what summit was Rhys Jones gazing out from?

On his final, seemingly successful attempt, Rhys Jones and guide Mark Diggins scrambled up the Ledge Route, which ends at a high plateau on Ben Nevis plateau - but it is not considered the summit.

The head of the Ledge Route ends near a separate peak, Carn Dearg North West, which is 129 metres lower than the Ben Nevis summit, situated two kilometres away.

As Rhys Jones is shown on film reaching the high plateau, his voiceover said: "I've made it to the summit of Britain's highest mountain."

When asked for comment, a BBC spokesman said: "Griff climbed the Ben via the Ledge Route, up the north face. This brings you out at the Carn Dearg top of Ben Nevis, on the summit plateau.

"We felt it would have been overly technical to explain to the viewer that Griff had reached a top on the summit plateau, as, for the great majority of viewers, we are sure that to stand on the summit plateau at any of the tops would be the same as having reached the summit.

"When making this series for a broad-based BBC One audience, we have had to consider many issues of topographical detail like this. All these decisions are made in good spirit, and are intended to include, not to deceive."

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Triumphant at the top: Climbers are questioning the wording of 'top'

However, leading British climber Ken Crocket, author of Ben Nevis: Britain's Highest Mountain, has criticised the BBC and Rhys Jones for demeaning the achievements of climbers who have reached the summit of Ben Nevis.

Crocket said: "I feel that to have come out with such a whopper as Griff did on the programme is a slap in the face for the thousands who have struggled up the path to stand on the summit and feel the golden glow that a personal achievement provides.

"The weather on the day may have been damp, but it very obviously was pretty calm, so the conditions were not a problem. Perhaps Griff had a meeting to attend at sea level, perhaps a train to catch? I would have sympathised with him and accepted the outcome if he were open enough to admit that, while he reached the top of Carn Dearg, he certainly was well short of the highest point in the British Isles."

The row over the authenticity of Mountain follows the BBC being found guilty of misleading viewers over a competition to name a Blue Peter cat and footage appearing to show the Queen storming out of a photoshoot with acclaimed photographer Annie Leibowitz.

Hard climb: Rhys Jones climbed a series of peaks through Britain