Lost Climber Rant

[SportscarBruce]

As someone with a background in remote location emergency medicine and mountaineering experience I must get this off my chest;

It is time to clamp down on the amount of public expenditure allocated for rescuing the rich & arrorgant & stupid who put themselves into dire situations. If you're able to afford an expedition to Denali or Mount Hood or the mountains bordering Iraq and Iran, and you fail to take along and use a GPS tracking device, emergency radio beacon, flare gun, etc, etc let Darwin's Law take it's course.

In other words f-'em!

[Macd]

Yeah. My father works in a hospital and he says the amount of people who are flown in on navy sea-kings at £20,000 at go with nothing but a sore ankle is huge. People need to be taught common sense, by leaving them on the F-ing mountain.

[Dave B]

If nothing else they should take dangerous sports insurance to reimburse the rescue teams and hospitals.

[GridGirl]

I can't stress enough the importance of having the right kit with you when you are out hiking or walking plus the ability to use the equipment. There's no point in having compass if you don't know what to do with it or a map if you have no idea how to read it.

Thick fog has suddenly come down in the past when we've been coming down from a summit and lost our path in next to zero visibility. A laminated map, a GPS with OS maps on them plotting our route got us back on track in no time without us needing to call for help.

I went to the Edinburgh Tatoo in August and told the steward I had nothing but coats in my bag when she was doing the standard bag searches. Then she came across something that wasn't a jacket and asked what it was and I had no idea until she pulled out my survival kit. Sometimes it's better to be safe than sorry I guess. :)

I usually read the Langdale and Ambleside Mountain Rescue website every couple of weeks and their comments give me a good chuckle at times. http://www.lamrt.org.uk

[GridGirl]

As a side point mountain rescue teams in the UK are charities and are not government funded. Rescuers give up their time for free and do it aswell as their regular jobs. It's a service that no one should abuse and use only when necessary.

[Hondo]

As someone with a background in remote location emergency medicine and mountaineering experience I must get this off my chest;

It is time to clamp down on the amount of public expenditure allocated for rescuing the rich & arrorgant & stupid who put themselves into dire situations. If you're able to afford an expedition to Denali or Mount Hood or the mountains bordering Iraq and Iran, and you fail to take along and use a GPS tracking device, emergency radio beacon, flare gun, etc, etc let Darwin's Law take it's course.

In other words f-'em!

As a former backpacker, I agree completely. Learning to use a compass and map properly wouldn't hurt either. While you're at it, throw in sailing and ATVing also.

In a similar area, I'm tired of western nations lambasting smaller nations about their weak narcotic interdiction efforts and then turning around trying to get one of their citizens freed after one of those small nations has setenced them to death or a long prison term for smuggling.

[Mark in Oshawa]

I think anyone who hikes without proper maps, a compass and a gps should be left out there.

If you are in the mountains, it would also be really good if you were with experienenced mountaineers. It is amazing how many people just think they are going for a walk. It irritates me a activity like Scuba diving is so well self regulated, but any dummy can go up onto a mountain and get lost or hurt.

[Roamy]

As someone with a background in remote location emergency medicine and mountaineering experience I must get this off my chest;

It is time to clamp down on the amount of public expenditure allocated for rescuing the rich & arrorgant & stupid who put themselves into dire situations. If you're able to afford an expedition to Denali or Mount Hood or the mountains bordering Iraq and Iran, and you fail to take along and use a GPS tracking device, emergency radio beacon, flare gun, etc, etc let Darwin's Law take it's course.

In other words f-'em!

I agree completely !!!!!!!!

[Jag_Warrior]

People with a tad bit of common sense would have taken along at least one GPS tracking device. But I heard one "experienced climber" claim that the 1 pound devices added too much weight. So... just look for them in the spring.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YHPVggXMiOU/R8wdEvboUUI/AAAAAAAAAQ4/HlqM2CEZzH4/s400/popsicle.jpg

[Daniel]

As someone with a background in remote location emergency medicine and mountaineering experience I must get this off my chest;

It is time to clamp down on the amount of public expenditure allocated for rescuing the rich & arrorgant & stupid who put themselves into dire situations. If you're able to afford an expedition to Denali or Mount Hood or the mountains bordering Iraq and Iran, and you fail to take along and use a GPS tracking device, emergency radio beacon, flare gun, etc, etc let Darwin's Law take it's course.

In other words f-'em!
As someone who has never and will probably never climb anything bigger than a hill I don't really have the expertise to give a proper opinion but I just thought I'd say it's good to see someone new starting up interesting topics in the Chit Chat forum and bringind a bit of life to it :up:

[Mark in Oshawa]

As someone who has never and will probably never climb anything bigger than a hill I don't really have the expertise to give a proper opinion but I just thought I'd say it's good to see someone new starting up interesting topics in the Chit Chat forum and bringind a bit of life to it :up:

We do need more new topics and new blood....

[Daniel]

We do need more new topics and new blood....
Yup :)

[Mark]

As someone who has never and will probably never climb anything bigger than a hill I don't really have the expertise to give a proper opinion but I just thought I'd say it's good to see someone new starting up interesting topics in the Chit Chat forum and bringind a bit of life to it :up:

Personally I like driving up hills. Then you have the added bonus of a road to guide you. :D

[Easy Drifter]

Up here you can add in the morons on snowmobiles and ATVs who go out onto lakes and rivers when the ice isn't safe and require a rescue.
Every year there are quite a few that thin out the gene pool though.

[Jag_Warrior]

Up here you can add in the morons on snowmobiles and ATVs who go out onto lakes and rivers when the ice isn't safe and require a rescue.
Every year there are quite a few that thin out the gene pool though.

While I see it as a tragedy for the families, I do find it difficult to muster up much sympathy for idiots who get killed doing stupid things.

Falling through thin ice, once it begins to warm up (or before we've had a deep freeze) and getting lost on a snowy mountain, without sensible gear, are just two areas where I think we shouldn't lead these people to believe they'll be rescued. It really wound me up when I read that several rescuers had been killed trying to save some other village idiots (I think also on Mt. Hood) just a few years ago.

[Daniel]

I usually read the Langdale and Ambleside Mountain Rescue website every couple of weeks and their comments give me a good chuckle at times. www.lamrt.org.uk (http://www.lamrt.org.uk)


You do have to just shake your head when reading some of those stories......

http://www.lamrt.org.uk/incidents09.html

I like the one where there are 9 people who only have 1 torch and 8 glowsticks.....

[Lousada]

As someone with a background in remote location emergency medicine and mountaineering experience I must get this off my chest;

It is time to clamp down on the amount of public expenditure allocated for rescuing the rich & arrorgant & stupid who put themselves into dire situations. If you're able to afford an expedition to Denali or Mount Hood or the mountains bordering Iraq and Iran, and you fail to take along and use a GPS tracking device, emergency radio beacon, flare gun, etc, etc let Darwin's Law take it's course.

In other words f-'em!

When somebody goes overboard, we turn the boat around. We do that because we are humane people and we are all equal (but some more than others). If you didn't rescue one person, you might as well let the next one die. Where do you draw the line in this??
Best option is to make sure nobody falls off the boat anymore. Or in this case not let anyone be ill prepared for a mountaineering trip.

[Hondo]

When somebody goes overboard, we turn the boat around. We do that because we are humane people and we are all equal (but some more than others). If you didn't rescue one person, you might as well let the next one die. Where do you draw the line in this??
Best option is to make sure nobody falls off the boat anymore. Or in this case not let anyone be ill prepared for a mountaineering trip.

At the risk of being coldhearted, that is the very attitude that is the root cause of subjects like "the dumbing down of America". Simplify it, standardize it, equalize it until everybody can play the same, with no winners and no losers. Just one large organic ooze.

How about letting those that fail to heed good advice, perish from their own folly.

That 1 pound GPS, I used to trek with a few guys that were insane minimumalist backpackers. Those nuts would even cut off any extra bootlace they didn't need. They would compete to see how light they could get their loads. Wild.

[anthonyvop]

I have no problem with saving these idiots. I just want them to pay for it when they are done. Make the rescue bill the equivalent to an IRS or Student Loan....You can't get out of it even if you declare bankruptcy. Garnish their wages if needed.

[GridGirl]

You do have to just shake your head when reading some of those stories......

http://www.lamrt.org.uk/incidents09.html

I like the one where there are 9 people who only have 1 torch and 8 glowsticks.....

I didn't quite understand how they thought 8 glowsticks would help them up a mountain either. It's stories like the one below that really do make me question the inteligence of some people. It's a classic case of 'all the gear but no idea'.

Taken from a May rescue on lamrt.org.uk......

A group of 5 became split in poor weather when they separated in to two parts; one to go over the Bad Step and the other to go round. They failed to re-unite on Long Top. One group phoned the police for assistance. They were given directions and instructions to head for Three Tarns, were they managed to meet the rest of their party. Possession of a GPS was of limited use in these circumstances, because the party were only able to use it to tell us where they were, and not able to use it to get to where they wanted to be. The same applied to the map and compass they were carrying. Unfortunately, mere ownership of equipment doesn't guarantee protection..knowledge of its working is vital too.

[Macd]

When somebody goes overboard, we turn the boat around. We do that because we are humane people and we are all equal (but some more than others). If you didn't rescue one person, you might as well let the next one die. Where do you draw the line in this??
Best option is to make sure nobody falls off the boat anymore. Or in this case not let anyone be ill prepared for a mountaineering trip.

Work for the heath and safety exec do we?

[allycat228]

We get prats around here as well (kmrt) i think 2 yrs on the trot they have had students up a mountain with suitcases