What next, extreme pillow fights?
73
Brian G8ADD
In reply to G8ADD:
Llanberis MRT are having a bit of a trying time at the moment. To my reckoning they are averaging 2-3 calls PER DAY at the weekends. With a fair number of them being avoidable stuff such as people ill equipped or getting lost while in easy to navigate ground. This last Saturday they had two separate stretcher carries going on at the same time, calling in support from Aberglaslyn MRT (who then had to shoot off to a job of their own!).
Seeing this type of stuff going on kind of makes these very dedicated volunteers think “why do I bother!”.
We’re also at the height of the “National Three Peaks” season, with Snowdon often tackled in the dark with a “I must get to the top at all costs” attitude.
As an IML I occasionally work on Snowdon looking after groups doing the Three Peaks. Some (but by no means all!) of the unguided groups are woefully under-prepared for a night ascent in bad weather.
I don’t know what the answer is. It is a case of ignorance on the part of the majority, but how do you educate them? It’s too late to do it when they reach the car park at the bottom of the mountain and you can’t get to them before they leave home.
I certainly don’t want to see some sort of access control like they have in the US (it wouldn’t work here anyway).
Gerald
MW6AQU/P
In reply to MW6AQU:
The idiots who went out with just there pjamas and trainers must have some thing loose in there head what ever must they have been thinking about , They should be made to pay a donation to the people who risked there own well being for these idiots im sure the MRT team agrees Best 73s Dave M3XIE
In reply to -M3XIE:
…must have some thing loose in there head what ever must they have been thinking about…
That’s it they just don’t think! Consequences - too few people ask the number one question “What if?”. It doesn’t just apply to walking up hills and mountains, it applies to everything in life I’m afraid.
73, Gerald G4OIG
P.S. Anyone see the BBC 4 programme on the Group B rallying held in the 1980’s? Insanity rules!
In reply to G4OIG:
It isn’t as if it was anything new, Gerald, its been going on for over fifty years to my certain knowledge. The first time I tackled Crib Goch in the 60’s I saw a party of three girls in casual gear and sandals trying it, not a rucsac or map between them, fortunately they turned back at the first place where you have to put hand to rock. Later that same year I was in the Sligachan when the bar emptied for a call-out for a lost walker in the Cuillin, and at that time there was a huge cairn of broken silly footware at the top of the first part of the tourist track on the Ben. It isn’t as if there isn’t plenty of warning signs and loads of “How to” books, it is just that there is a huge waiting list for the Darwin Award. As a friend says, it makes you wonder how some of them found their way out of the birth canal!
73
Brian G8ADD
In reply to G8ADD:
… it makes you wonder how some of them found their way out of the birth canal!
Ah, but they were born with sense. They just lost it all somewhere along the way!
73, Gerald G4OIG
(fresh from a frowning session over the weather map for GM/SS this week… with my reputation for attracting wet weather, I have no chance of getting out!)
Edit: Met Office - “Heavy showers or thunderstorms are likely on Thursday with the potential for some heavy rainfall in places. The public should be aware that, following recent rainfall, the ground remains saturated, and that further rainfall would lead to surface water issues and perhaps localised flooding” … Friday? don’t ask!
In reply to G4OIG:
(fresh from a frowning session over the weather map for GM/SS this
week… with my reputation for attracting wet weather, I have no
chance of getting out!)Edit: Met Office - “Heavy showers or thunderstorms are likely on
Thursday with the potential for some heavy rainfall in places. The
public should be aware that, following recent rainfall, the ground
remains saturated, and that further rainfall would lead to surface
water issues and perhaps localised flooding” … Friday?
don’t ask!
Golly, yes, I’ve just looked at the forecast chart for Friday - with a filling depression over England and an occlusion over the Scottish border, it looks a recipe for thunderstorms - try going as far north as possible!
73
In reply to G8ADD:
I am waiting for a window in the weather to get out to carry out another one of my mad 36 hour dashes. I was hoping to “escape” tomorrow evening about 21:00 local with an idea of bagging 4 GM/SS summits during the day on Thursday and a return in time for breakfast on Friday. I’ve decided that another week or two probably won’t matter… but I am definitely starting to twitch. 
73, Gerald G4OIG
In reply to G4OIG:
Why not try Europe, for example Belgium or Germany Gerald, probably closer & chance of better weather.
In reply to G1INK:
Because you don’t have to pay to cross into Soctland. Yet. Unlike getting to the European Mainland.
And we still take your stinky English money without complaint. We may give you notes that you will have issues with back in Blighty, but you’re welcome to come back and spend them up here!
Andy
MM0FMF
In reply to G1INK:
Steve;
Many thanks for all the Belgian and German summits last week.
73 de Ken G3XQE
In reply to G1INK:
Why not try Europe, for example Belgium or Germany Gerald
Divorcible offence that Steve. I could not get across there without being accompanied by the XYL, so no activation as she doesn’t do summits, least not for SOTA!
Besides, if I did manage to “escape”, with the additional time constraints imposed by the ferries even I couldn’t leg it over to ON, bag 4 summits and get back in 36 hours - by the time I got back my visa would have run out! 
73, Gerald G4OIG
In reply to G8ADD:
You are absolutely correct Brian, it is as old a phenomenon as climbing the hills themselves.
However, what is changing is the number of people attempting Snowdon as a single mountain or as part of some other expedition, like the Three Peaks.
Snowdon is ascended several hundred thousand times a year on foot. I believe over 500,000 reach the summit if you include all the people who take the train, with less than half going up that way.
One positive trend is that most people (stag groups in PJ’s not withstanding) are better equipped these days. But many of these have “all the gear and no idea” how to use it, particularly navigating. However, one thing they often lack is adequate footwear.
Oh well, I don’t know why I am going on about it on here… I’m preaching to the converted! Hi Hi!
Gerald
MW6AQU/P
How scary little wonder I’m too frightened to go out? P.S. my pyjamas have holes.
In reply to GW4ZPL:
Hi hi!
Suggest “mountain strength” darning thread for Mountain PJs… I can get you some for a very reasonable rate…
Gerald
MW6AQU/P
In reply to GW4ZPL:
The Lake District is also seeing a massive increase in call outs this year,
Laat week saw the tragic loss of life in two separate incidents at Pavey Ark in the Langdale Pikes.
Jacks Rake is climbing territory, yet people still insist on trying to go this route totally ill prepared,
ill equiped and with insufficient experience to even attempt it.
I have lost count of the times that I have been asked for directions or “where am I” and seen similar sights to the above-mentioned.
Even on occasion have someone come up from Keswick onto High Spy ask for directions and then comment as they walked away “they could at least put Sign posts up here” !
Stay safe.
73
Liz
In reply to MW6AQU:
One positive trend is that most people (stag groups in PJ’s not
withstanding) are better equipped these days. But many of these have
“all the gear and no idea” how to use it, particularly
navigating. However, one thing they often lack is adequate footwear.
Better equipped indeed - the first time I went up I was wearing a Black’s canvas anorak, about as waterproof as my XYL’s flour sifter, and a pair of ExWD beatle Crushers with as much grip as a slab of lard, but at least I had read every book on mountaineering in the local library and enjoyed navigating!
Off topic, but do you know what worries me a lot, today? Young members of my climbing club with the best of modern equipment, they go up Welsh Hills with gear that would get them up Everest - including ice-axes that look like pieces of modernist sculpture - but they don’t carry a map, I don’t know even if they could navigate from one, they are totally dependant on Satnav. If they drop it, or the batteries go, or the sun throws a wobbly, or the military start playing with their jammers, these kids would be b-, er, snookered! Oh tempora, Oh mores!
73
Brian G8ADD
In reply to M6EPW:
Even on occasion have someone come up from Keswick onto High Spy ask
for directions and then comment as they walked away “they could
at least put Sign posts up here” !
Like one time on Ben Macdui when, just before the final ascent over the boulder field, I was asked if this was Cairngorm! Having pointed out Cairngorm (several miles away) to the woman she made my day (not) by saying that this was excellent information as she was guiding a party up Ben Macdui the following week!
I hope somebody in her party was carrying a map and had some common sense, she didn’t!
73
Barry GM4TOE
In reply to GM4TOE:
I always feel naked without a map. Even on summits with enourmous tourist paths. It just seems wrong to be without a map. Moreover, reading the map and checking that the map reads the same as the view you have is all part of the joy of walking. There again, I’ve been a map fetishist since I was a small child!
Andy
MM0FMF
In reply to MM0FMF:
Same here, Andy, I love maps and have spent many a pleasant hour poring over them! A shame if technology makes them obsolete!
73
Brian G8ADD