UKH

Does every cold or tired caller deserve the help of mountain rescue? Judy Whiteside, Editor of Mountain Rescue Magazine, examines the circumstances in which a team might decide not to attend on the hill.

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In reply to UKC/UKH Articles:

Assuming the first quote, 'There's no way they'd have declined to go out if they believed the walker to be in danger', is mine from UKC (and it's word-for-word apart from the omission of a 'just'), can I just be quite clear that I was passing no judgement on the walker but rather defending the rescue team. Because the following passage, starting at 'Others turned to benefit of doubt, leniency', seems to lump my comment into 'outrage [...] towards the man'. It's possible to both trust the judgement of the team and have some sympathy for the hapless (and probably inexperienced) walker!

In reply to UKC/UKH Articles:

With a car you call you call an ambulance if you have an accident with injuries, but Green Flag/RAC/AA for a more minor incident such as a breakdown.

Maybe  Guides/MILs/WMLs/SMLs  should set up a ‘Green Flag’ type of service through the BMC that people can call if they need their hand holding on the way down.   So, mountain rescue teams can say ‘You’re not injured, so it’s not one for us but we can send you a guide for £50/hour if you don’t already have a mountain Green Flag policy’.

A lot of people would suddenly realise that they could get themselves down if they had to pay but everyone has help available if they feel that they need it.  It also makes late night callouts more acceptable to partners if there’s a few extra quid involved.

Questionable rescue call outs should be refused until the pubs are all closed.

 

The secret passphrase to get Mountain Rescue to attend your needs no matter how spurious they are  is "Hi, please can you come hep us?  We're stuck on the mountain with a couple of bottles of single malt whiskey"

In reply to UKC/UKH Articles:

Can UKC do a follow up article on the police and coast guard called "please! for the love of god, please!  Leave us alone until we ask for you!  How can we get coast guard and police to refuse to attend call outs from uninformed unnecessarily-concerned members of the public?"

In reply to UKC/UKH Articles:

There was a case in the US Cascades or Sierras years ago where a local Sherrif's office put up signs at trail-heads saying 'No rescues would be available due to lack of funds'. The number of hikers etc dropped to 1/3, and there were no reported incidents or accidents. The Sherrifs are the primary organisers of rescues there.

In reply to UKC/UKH Articles:

There are always going to be those that venture into the hills underprepared and come a cropper. Just like there are always going to be those that drink too much on a night out, go for a drive in the rain, fall off a trampoline, etc.

While the appropriate response to some calls for help may be to offer advice and guidance for an expedited independent descent - as opposed to team members heading out, rescue services should not distinguish between those "less" and "more" worthy of help. They are there to help, period. Compassion and sympathy should not vary with degree of a person's preparedness for adversity.

In reply to UKC/UKH Articles:

I think that would easily solved like they do in many Euro countries, yes they can come out and get you if you are wet but only if you have insurance a bill you £££. Oh how quickly people's attitude changes then.

In reply to Ramon Marin:

I know personally of one case when 2 climbers were seriously in danger in Alps, but had no insurance or cash to pay for helicopter and decided to stay overnight on the mountain. After few hours they called a chopper, but one lost few toes because of cold..

There's no a solution to a problem really. Maybe governments financed rescue teams, but government can't run anything efficiently, so likely you will loose all toes before helicopter would arrive.

In reply to Paz:

Can I request you add “RNLI - know your geographic limits”.  I won’t go swimming during the day within a binocular assisted line of sight of their patrol zones now, since an incident where I got called out of the water and strongly patronised for some time...  

In reply to UKC/UKH Articles:

I'm glad we (currently) don't live in a society that limits people's enjoyment of the outdoors based on their financial status and ability to afford insurance. 

In reply to Paz:

Or 999 ambulance calls for: shampoo in eyes, hangover, locked out of flat, cant find shoes etc (obviously not all at once... no one should have to survive that) 

In reply to UKC/UKH Articles:

Interesting reading, and fascinating that this one guy has sent as many shock waves as he did (it just keeps reappearing!). Two things; he actually intended to spend the night on top. A day or two later, the Telegraph got hold of it. How did they get it so soon? Best to say that it leaves me with reservations as to the guys intentions.

In reply to Kemics:

Yeah absolutely.  I can't imagine anything worse.

In reply to nutme:

Heaven forbid the government get involved. All they’d do is start meddling and messing up what is a fantastic organisation 

In reply to Kemics:

I went to the police station once after I managed to snap my key off in the door of my flat on returning drunk from a mate's stag do. This was in the days before mobile internet, I figured the callout number for a local emergency locksmith was the sort of thing they would know. Which they did.

In reply to UKC/UKH Articles:

Even the best of us sometimes head out and then realise we've forgotten a piece of gear when we need it. But the important thing is knowing what to do when that happens... and inevitably it means returning back. I got caught out after forgetting my waterproofs and I just turned around and headed home... the hill will be there for the next time. Even when I have all my gear with me, I will sometimes get caught out by a change in the weather, sometimes fog, sometimes hailstone... I've been in sight of the summit and turned around. Perhaps an advert of people doing that might be money well spent. There are times when I miss the public announcement adverts.

In reply to UKC/UKH Articles:

About a year ago I met a young student a short way below the summit of Tinto ( so not very high) in an unusually cold gale force wind. He was wearing cotton shorts and a cotton jumper, with no extra layers available. He was sat at the side of the track waiting for the ambulance to come for him! 

Long story short, he was in the early stages of hypothermia. Slurred speech, lethargic - and impaired thought processes. I squeezed him into my Goretex jacket, (he was a big lad) and made him eat a cereal bar (all I had) before pulling him to his feet with the help of his worried companion, and marching him down the hill. He was going fine under his own steam after a few hundred metres.

Learning point for me was that folk don’t make sensible choices once they get past being a bit cold - this lad would have been fine in 15 minutes as he descended out of the wind - but he couldn’t compute that.

Don’t know how that helps MRT call handlers to decide a course of action, but it helps me not to judge.

In reply to UKC/UKH Articles:

About a year ago I met a young student a short way below the summit of Tinto ( so not very high) in an unusually cold gale force wind. He was wearing cotton shorts and a cotton jumper, with no extra layers available. He was sat at the side of the track waiting for the ambulance to come for him! 

Long story short, he was in the early stages of hypothermia. Slurred speech, lethargic - and impaired thought processes. I squeezed him into my Goretex jacket, (he was a big lad) and made him eat a cereal bar (all I had) before pulling him to his feet with the help of his worried companion, and marching him down the hill. He was going fine under his own steam after a few hundred metres.

Learning point for me was that folk don’t make sensible choices once they get past being a bit cold - this lad would have been fine in 15 minutes as he descended out of the wind - but he couldn’t compute that.

Don’t know how that helps MRT call handlers to decide a course of action, but it helps me not to judge.

In reply to whitewaterpops:

What are you saying? He was offered 'appropriate' help.

In reply to nutme:

That's not an excuse is it, you either have the cash for insurance or you have the brass to get yourself out of trouble. It's not like the poles back in the 80's doing winter ascent with no cash relied on chopper rescues. I'm sad to hear your mate loss their toes, but maybe they shouldn't have been there in the first, which is normally what it comes down to rescue unprepared people.

In reply to petestack: Some people just don’t think that walking in the mountains can be dangerous. Today in Austria I went up with my family on a cable car and cycled our bikes around. My wife was asking why we were taking so much kit in the rucksack because she is inexperienced in that environment and doesn’t consider the “what ifs”. I am the same when it comes to a shopping mall, where I’m a complete novice and she rolls her eyes at my basic errors. What I’m trying to say is that the more we can educate people BEFORE they go up the mountains the better. So a few more signs at the bottom of popular routes may save a lot of call outs to “the inexperienced” and teach them how to prepare for their next visit.

 

In reply to Bunny the Yeti Hunter:

I've got a good idea. You should spend more time in the shopping mall, doing the family shopping, which would allow your wife to get out into the mountains a little more!!