Mountain Rescue
The CBB -> Anything Else
#1: Mountain Rescue Author: MissPrint, Location: Edinburgh PostPosted: Sat Jul 03, 2004 12:08 am

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3855259.stm

The Chalet girls often wandered out into incipient thunderstorms and mists, and I thought it rather improbable, but seems today's schoolgirls can do it too.

 

#2:  Author: Lesley, Location: Rochester, Kent PostPosted: Sat Jul 03, 2004 7:38 am

Very interesting! Stupid teacher and girls -what on Earth were they thinking? Did they feel that, because it was summer, the mountains were not dangerous? Rolling Eyes

 

#3:  Author: Jennie, Location: Cambridgeshire PostPosted: Sat Jul 03, 2004 1:11 pm

Apparently, the girls AND the teacher all thought that it was funny to have to be rescued.

I could have sworn at the stupid woman, doesn't she read the papers?

 

#4:  Author: Lesley, Location: Rochester, Kent PostPosted: Sat Jul 03, 2004 1:42 pm

Jennie wrote:
Apparently, the girls AND the teacher all thought that it was funny to have to be rescued.

I could have sworn at the stupid woman, doesn't she read the papers?


Well they should be sent the bill for however much it cost for Mountain Rescue - and that teacher should be sacked!

 

#5:  Author: Jennie, Location: Cambridgeshire PostPosted: Sat Jul 03, 2004 2:06 pm

I agree with you. The Scottish mountains are extremely dangerous, conditions are likely to change in the course of only a few minutes, and that is well-known. And, people ought to know better than to go out in rough conditions without proper footwear.

A colleague's only son, an experienced hill walker and climber, died in a fall from Ben Nevis, so what might have happened to those girls is beyond belief.

 

#6:  Author: Chelsea, Location: Your Imagination PostPosted: Sat Jul 03, 2004 3:09 pm

THere was a case out west (Alberta) a few years ago when a school took a trip out to the Rockies and got caught in an avalanche, killing 7 of the 12 students (not quite sure about the numbers). The inquest determined that the school had ignored warnings and shouldn't have been in the area. Parents have filed lawsuits, which made me think about the number of CS parents who could have filed suits.

 

#7:  Author: Jennie, Location: Cambridgeshire PostPosted: Sat Jul 03, 2004 4:58 pm

It's one of my ambitions to go to the Rockies, but I would never dream of going there without my walking boots, my walking jacket, thermal blanket or survival bag, a food supply, etc. When you are in the mountains, you just cannot rely on the weather conditions remaining stable. It's far better to be over-prepared, than to face death from exposure/hypothermia.

 

#8:  Author: Susan, Location: Carlisle PostPosted: Sat Jul 03, 2004 6:40 pm

I saw this story in the paper and was appalled. We have cases in the Lake District now where people do not care what they wear when they climb the mountains, nor do they worry about the conditions because they have mobile phones and can soon call for help! Don't they realise that though mountain rescuers are trained they are still putting their lives at risk?

One of our project engineers went on a challenge in Scotland 2 or 3 weekends ago, they had to walk so far and climb so, many mountains in 24 hours. Some of the people doing the challenge had flown up from gatwick\Heathrow and as it was really hot at that time did not think to take cold/wet weather gear with them. On the Saturday it snowed. Out of the 300 competitors 100 were treated for hypothermia - some of them admitted to hospital.

 

#9:  Author: jennifer, Location: Sunny California PostPosted: Sat Jul 03, 2004 7:10 pm

I agree about the cell phones - I think they give a false sense of security. If you *know* that you are two days from the nearest phone or doctor,
you tend to be a bit more cautious. And in remote areas, it can take a rescue team long enough to get to you that you can die of hypothermia, not to mention the spotty reception in less inhabited areas.

I've done two week wilderness trips, and the point at which we were being most cautious was when two of the group decided to take a short side trip, at which point we divied up the first aid kit, made sure that they had rain jackets, flashlights, map, compass, emergency thermal blankets, spare food and water and whistle, and came up with a contingency plan for if they didn't come back.

I've only been on one trip where we had to evacaute due to illness/injury (a flare-up of a previous condition, rather than a new injury), and we did that on our own feet.

I know people who've done trips up north, which required them to
carry a GPS system, take a test to make sure they could use it successfully, carry several days worth of extra food for each person, and carry a loaded rifle (these were the park requirements, before they would let you fly up to the hike). Personally, if I were being tracked across the tundra by a polar bear, I wouldn't find a rifle very comforting.

 

#10:  Author: Donna, Location: Liverpool PostPosted: Sat Jul 03, 2004 9:21 pm

I couldn't believe it when I saw that story about the teacher and the girls on the news - I hope she is sacked. Apart from anything else, there should have been at least 2 members of staff there (I'm fairly certain there's supposed to be at least one member of staff per 30 pupils or part thereof, and the ratio may be even smaller for school trips - have never organised one, so I'm not sure on that one. She had 39 girls with her). the only reason I didn't swear at the tv was that my parents were in the room with me. The teacher should be sacked and the school should be investigated as to how it was allowed to happen.

 

#11:  Author: Susan, Location: Carlisle PostPosted: Sat Jul 03, 2004 9:56 pm

there was atrip near here a couple of years ago and a child was killed.
He was on the trip illegally - his Mum was a school helper and took him along as she had no one to look after him, he was a couple of years younger than the children whose trip it was. They were jumping into deep pools (which are very very cold) the other kids being older and strongercould get in and out. apparently he begged so much he was allowed to do it to. Couldn't get out and drowned before they got him out. There was a prosecution and the teacher was jailed, the activity was not supposed to happen and he should not have allowed the child on the trip.

 

#12:  Author: MissPrint, Location: Edinburgh PostPosted: Sun Jul 04, 2004 12:31 am

I was quite amazed at the lack of preparation for the trip. Mind you, even my daughter's Duke of Edinburgh expedition had to be rescued, and they, well, at least she was well equipped (the others hadn't brought whistles, and wouldn't have known the signal if they had). She was also the only one whose rucksack contents were not sopping wet as we had packed everything in a rucksack liner. Was I the only mum who had ever been out on the hills before? Anyway, they were stranded by flash floods, what should have been a path was a river, what should have been a stream was a raging seething torrent and the fire brigade were sent to fetch them. I'm proud to say, they all kept their heads thanks to my daughter having a whistle and knowing how to give a distress call, they made a shelter out of her bivvy bag (also supplied by me) and ate their emergency chocolate. She phoned me from the fire engine, and I thought she was pulling my leg about the rescue as we had barely had rain here. Her group were quite the celebrities when they returned to school and dined out on the soty for the rest of the year.

 

#13:  Author: Nicole, Location: New Zealand PostPosted: Sun Jul 04, 2004 2:17 am

That's unbelieveable. How irresponsible can you get.

I hope Mountain Rescue do charge the school for their time - I'm assuming that it's an organization like Search And Rescue here, which is facilitated by the Police but is made up primarily of volunteers. In NZ it was mooted that in situations like this SAR charge for services. I can't remember whether they went through with this or not, but after having been involved in SAR some time ago and once spent 2 days looking for a party who went out completely unprepared for hiking in mountains in September, ie spring with melting snow etc. Their response when we found them - "It didn't look this bad on the map". Of course it didn't - they didn't have a topo map showing the gradients and they wandered completely off the very well marked track.

Sorry for the rant, but as you can see this is a sore point. In fact, one of the reasons I've stopped volunteering is because of the lack of thanks we got for giving up our time to rescue such idiots.

 

#14:  Author: Catriona, Location: South Yorkshire PostPosted: Sun Jul 04, 2004 3:39 pm

According to my newspaper, some of the girls were really rude to the rescuers and asked what had taken them so long!! I can't decide whether their stupidity or their appalling manners is/are worse.

 

#15:  Author: Rosie, Location: Huntingdonshire/Bangor PostPosted: Sun Jul 04, 2004 3:57 pm

I'm not sure the teacher is TOTALLY to blame, Yes, ultimately she was in charge and therefore responsible, but to reach 16/17 years old (Lower Sixth presumably) and honestly believe that a skirt and trainers are suitable mountaineering wear for Scotland, not matter what time of year, seems pretty thick to me. And being rude to MRT really is the final straw - as volunteers they were not obliged to rescue them at all!!

 

#16:  Author: Donna, Location: Liverpool PostPosted: Sun Jul 04, 2004 7:09 pm

yes she was totally to blame - how are the girls supposed to know what appropriate mountainwear is when they have teachers who think it's acceptable to take 39 girls up a mountain with no preparation or protection against the elements? She was in charge of them and should have cancelled the trip if she had told them what to wear and they'd disregarded it, or told them in the first place. I honestly don't think she had any idea of what she should have done in the situation.

 

#17:  Author: Dawn, Location: Leeds, West Yorks PostPosted: Mon Jul 05, 2004 1:16 am

When other half and son (then aged 9) climbed Ben Nevis they got strange looks because it was a nice day (at the bottom) and they had all the protective gear/extra food/drink etc with them.

At the campsite we were staying at the warden told us that the previous week a woman had had to be airlifted off the top of Ben Nevis and had the cheek a couple of days later to drive back (from Oban so quite a long trip) to buy an *I climbed Ben Nevis* tee shirt which she then proudly wore round the campsite Rolling Eyes Rolling Eyes Rolling Eyes

 

#18:  Author: Jennie, Location: Cambridgeshire PostPosted: Mon Jul 05, 2004 8:12 pm

You can find stupidity everywhere, Dawn. The sad thing is that you don't have to go looking for it.

 

The CBB -> Anything Else


output generated using printer-friendly topic mod, All times are GMT + 1 Hour

Page 1 of 1

Powered by phpBB 2.0.6 © 2001,2002 phpBB Group