A man has apologised for leaving a bathtub up a mountain as part of attempts to break a world record. Tom Christopher, 25, carried the bath up Pen Y Fan, the highest mountain in South Wales, in an attempt to break the record for the 'world's highest bath', he told SWNS.
The content creator had a bath - made up from river water brought up by other climbers - and said he planned leaving it up the 886m (2,907 feet) mountain for 48 hours 'so others could enjoy it'. But Cardiff rugby players who visited 24 hours later decided to remove the tub themselves after assuming it had been dumped. The team said they carried it all the way back down the mountain, later slamming the action as 'mindless'.
Apology and lesson learned
Tom later said: "I know that night I should've taken it down and I am sorry. It was my fault and my mistake, I have definitely learnt my lesson to not do it again. But it was genuinely for a good cause!" Even though I'm the 'bad guy' I am so happy that people are sticking up for the national parks and keeping them clean!"
Tom said he decided to purchase a tub and carry it up Pen Y Fan on Thursday 16 July after feeling inspired to claim a record for taking the world's highest bath. He said: "I just wanted to do something crazy and make a funny, cool video showing me taking a bath up Pen Y Fan whilst watching the sunset."
Community involvement and viral video
After filming himself manoeuvering the heavy object up the peak, Tom said he put up signs at the bottom of the mountain asking people to help him fill up the bath by bringing up bottles of river water. He said: "I left signs and empty bottles which people could use to bring water up - and to my delight people just kept coming up and getting involved. It was brilliant to see so many strangers getting together to help fill this bath! The reason for the video soon become not just me taking the bath, but showing the public getting together to fill it up with water."
After posting the video online, Tom said it swiftly went viral - receiving over 200k views in just four hours. The young creator said he was inundated with positive comments and requests from people asking him to leave the bath up the mountain for them to use too. Tom said: "My DMs were flooded - everyone wanted a photo with the bath tub! My intention wasn't to leave it up there, I really was planning on taking it back down, but the amount of people that were messaging me was insane."
Removal by rugby team
Before Tom could remove the item himself, a 'confused' local Cardiff rugby team spotted it during a volunteer day and carried it back down the peak. He has since been informed by the National Trust rangers that the bath - which he said cost him £400 - has been crushed. Tom added: "Social media is always hard - one minute there is lots of love, the next you are berated for being 'lazy' and a 'fly-tipper'. It's negative on me but the positive thing is that I've learnt my lesson and this whole situation shows people are sticking up for our outdoor spaces!"
Cardiff Rugby Academy's social media page said: "Fantastic day for senior academy supporting the national trust at Pen y Fan with some invaluable work experience and teamwork essential. Also the group had the pleasure of carrying a bath from the top down. Who would leave a bath up there?! #mindless."
