Vocal Voices

Is how I think of these idiots rescued from Nevis.

This is very close to home for me, Mrs S and I have walked at least 100 Munro's together, Mrs S has walked more as I was often away and she walked with her brother or our son.

Mrs S and I walked up Nevis via the Carn Mor Dearg Arete. Unlike the tourist route, you really don't see anyone until you get up the top, we were passed by one officer and a soldier on the way.

We climbed it the last week in August. When we got to the top, there were children there in T Shirts and trainers, with parents who clearly had no equipment with them at all.

When you get to the top of Nevis there are lots of plaques remembering the children who died on Nevis because they didn't make it down in time. It takes a child 4.5 hours to get down from Nevis. That big broken motorway up the tourist route is very deceptive.

The weekend after we walked was the Nevis fell run. It snowed, suddenly and unexpectedly; they were helicoptering the fell runners off for hours. Had that snow come down on the previous weekend, some of those children would have died.

Yes Mrs S and I were in shorts too. But in our packs we had full 3 season gear, food, hot drinks and I was carrying a Trangia meths stove and pans to heat water.

People die doing this and they put 22 brave guys and a helicopter team at risk because they couldn't engage brain for 5 minutes!

Sorry for the rant but. HONESTLY!

Suff, I couldn't agree more.

For a couple of years I was a trade-related P T member of RAF Leeming MRT. Our job was to make sure all the specialist equipment such as generators, searchlights, radios, stretchers and other medevac stuff etc were in tip top condition. We never went 'on the hill' so to speak, as it was our job to secure the base camp and help coordinate things with others such as the police, ambulance, helicopters and other teams, but we still saw the state of the people the troop brought down and you would not believe how some were kitted out. Some of them didn't survive, despite our best efforts.

Even when I go for gentle walks in the Dales I always take a day sack to carry a mess tin into which fits a spirit stove and firelighters, dry foods - energy foods, spare clothing in a waterproof bag, thermal sheet, bivvy sheet, a powerful torch, and of course a compass. The phone has a GPS app.

You never can tell out in the open.

You can add that idiot who went surfing off Hastings in last weekend's storm. The local lifeboat all but capsized as they searched for him.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/h ... 25986.html

As for Ben Nevis, I know from first hand experience many years ago how quickly the conditions can change. Nearing the top of the Tourist route, on an otherwise perfect June day, with three ex-school-mates (we were in our late teens IIRC), we entered what we initially thought was mist and suddenly found ourselves in a snowstorm, losing visibility - and worse, losing the track. We immediately reversed course; never made it to the top. We had climbing boots and warm clothing but no other "safety" gear as such.

I don't know what the solution is to this. Make them pay a fee for their rescue?

In the car I have two ice scrappers, several cans of de-icer.two rugs . Also a waterproof anorack, a hi-vis vest gloves and waterproof cap. Two pairs of night driving glasses and a pair of good sunglasses and a first aid box.
Used to have a spade as well in the winter when I was working.
Amazing to see ladies going out in tall heeled shoes in bad weather. Many years ago when we were still working, my wife boughta pair of fur lined boots for £5.00.
She has worn them several times and have been a good bargain.

Some people just can't be told. Going surfing in Storm Ciara, going up Ben Nevis in trainers in February and so on. The thing is that they put other people's lives at risk rescuing them. If stupidity was a crime we'd need a lot more jails.

I don't think any of us who walk and climb would want the fines Ossie. There is a fine line between pushing the limit and being an idiot and we all fear that someone will set the boundaries to low.

I think, in this case, I would go for mandatory enrolement into a public information documentary where they have to explain what they were thinking, re-live the experience and talk about what they have learned. Maybe even forced to meet the loved ones of those who risked their lives to rescue them.

Then have the documentary shown on BBC. Make our license fee worth it.

I know this might encourage some idiots to try for the exposure, but failing to make it back for the TV show should blunt that a bit.

I can't think of anything more constructive than a good dose of shame...

I am not sure that there is an easy solution.

Fines and meetings with relatives of rescuers come after the event - they did not and probably will not stop any others in the future.

I once thought that compulsory insurance might be an option, but I fear that it would be ignored or that the cost would put off the casual hill walker or hiker when we are told that getting into nature is good for both our mental and physical health.

Having said that what I would like to see is a lot more forceful criticism of these idiots at the time of their rescue rather than the neutral, almost forgiving, acceptance and reporting by the media and authorities.

Name, blame, shame and then public explain to them their stupidity would suit me more.

Yes, all of these things come after an event, but how prevent them in the first place eludes me.

Workingman wrote:I am not sure that there is an easy solution.
Yes, all of these things come after an event, but how prevent them in the first place eludes me.

Hard to know. At least this will have deterred the next tranche of idiots for this year.

cromwell wrote:Some people just can't be told. Going surfing in Storm Ciara, going up Ben Nevis in trainers in February and so on. The thing is that they put other people's lives at risk rescuing them. If stupidity was a crime we'd need a lot more jails.

This!!