Mugginses out in the hills

[Biker]

We seem to have lost sight of the O.P. very early on in the thread - - - IT WAS A TV PROGRAMME Which answers more than one of the points raised, but
also means the SAR team was probably waiting on the sidelines and more than likely a fee had already been agreed.....

Apologies. I thought it was one of those reality shows like The Apprentice or Police, camera, action! Like those Fly on the wall type things where people on the sofa can pass judgement on numpty's on the screen... then do the exact same things when put in the same scenario.

 

[Vulpes]

"Enough, you know, I keep active"...Walking to the bus stop over the road whilst looking at your iPhone does not count...I don't want to be harsh, but I've seen way more swollen ankles than that and I was expecting someone of a far greater girth with dropsy or something. I think she defineately would have been better off just staying another night and keeping her feet elevated and attempting to get back with the support of colleagues the following morning. Reminds me a little bit of the larger kids that came along on walks with the school all in good humour, but threw in the amateur dramatics after 3km on the first slope and started complaining, sitting down all the time and taking painkillers. Luckily we weren't walking on the Highlands, just Beachy Head and we all got sick of him and sent him back home on the bus!

 

[Expat]

Yes Wook, what I meant is that they would have been previously notified and were probably on call - not that they were "tagging along"...

 

[Kernowek Scouser]

An interesting thread.

I think I know the answer, but I'll ask anyway. Do MRT or SAR do any kind of after rescue follow up with the person or people they rescue, to help educate the rescuees in regards to the various dangers associated with outdoor activities and how best to plan and prepare to avoid them?

While you might struggle to find a workable method of getting genuine numpties to pay / reimburse teams for having to rescue them, it might be possible to recover some of the costs incurred by requiring the clueless and cankled to pay attend an after rescue education session? Obviously there would be a cost associated with any awareness course on top of the cost of the original rescue and it would require people to give up more of their spare time to provide the education, so it might actually be a bloody stupid idea.

But other than grabbing the rescued in a vice like grip and 'encouraging' them to make a donation to one or all of the various rescue services, without some kind of mandatory requirement for the rescuee to do the right thing, I very much doubt many of the hapless and halfwitted would even think of chipping a few bob their rescuers way, as rescue, like tap water and mains electricity is something that just happen, perhaps by magic.

Having said all of the above, I have acted like a proper numpty myself, on several occasions while out and about and have only realised the extent of my unintentional stupidity when later recounting my adventures to friends and the tales being meet with blank stares, much shaking of heads and suggestions that I may have acted like a complete tool.

So while I may roll my eyes at tales of unprepared idiots needing to be rescued, I do so knowing I have been an unprepared idiot myself, but managed to get away with it.

We live and learn... or just keep making the same mistakes until, someone comes and puts us out of our misery

 

[Retired Member southey]

The only thing jazzed up is the annoying narrator.

 

[Retired Member southey]

No follow up needed.

 

[MrHare]

As a general principle you should never get yourself into a situation that you cannot get yourself out of without help.

The trouble is, it takes a certain amount of experience to know how difficult a situation could get. If you're conditioned (as most people in our society are) to think of walking as something zero effort that you do between the car and the supermarket, you don't have any meaningful comprehension of the difference between 7km, 17km, and 70km, or how much effort it takes to climb 1000m. I've seen this with novice hill walkers who think the quoted distance and terrain of a route is about 'how long do you fancy being out' rather than 'what you're capable of'.

It's only when you've staggered home benighted, dehydrated, exhausted and hallucinating that you *really* understand how badly you screwed up, and vow never ever to do it again.

 

[santaman2000]

Simple. A court imposes a percentage financial penalty which makes the individual THINK about what they are doing. Hopefully that would encourage the brain dead to engage brain before act!

I am also not talking about paying MRT, but reimbursing costs. i.e. RAF crew are already paid for, the helicopter is already there etc. Take away the extras etc like depreciation and servicing which is all in the figures that are quoted and you end up with a real world figure...

Actually (as a former Airman) the helicopter isn't "already there" and the airmen aren't "already paid." The number of aircraft bought and maintained and airmen recruited and trained is dependent upon the projected need the approving authority (your government) think they have. If you take away the mountain recue mission, the useage drops and the aircraft and personell will drop correspondingly.

As to a "real world figure. I'm sure your plan WILL accomplsh that but it wouldn't be enough to make it worth the court battle would it? After all, now we have to also figure in lawyer's costs as well.

 

[santaman2000]

...I've seen this with novice hill walkers who think the quoted distance and terrain of a route is about 'how long do you fancy being out' rather than 'what you're capable of'...

I miss my teenage years when this was more than a "perception." Back then (and I wasn't particularly athletic) that WAS my ability, the ability to not notice anything more than "how long do you fancy being out." Unfortunately that's no longer the case and I do have to think about my abilities rather than take them for granted now..

 

[nigeltm]

I think I know the answer, but I'll ask anyway. Do MRT or SAR do any kind of after rescue follow up with the person or people they rescue, to help educate the rescuees in regards to the various dangers associated with outdoor activities and how best to plan and prepare to avoid them?

Simply put, nope!

Not our fault really. In the vast majority of cases the casualty will be whisked off in a heli or land ambulance to the nearest hospital. Once there they disappear in to the system. Wea may know their name and some other details as a result of the callout but not enough to follow up on.

To be honest I'd like to follow up just to know they're OK.

In some cases we do get a "thank you" letter and a cheque in the post. Sometimes they're physically fine and we'll have a chat and a laugh at how daft they have been. As we're ever optimistic we keep a collection tin in the vehicles in case the casualty suddenly feels generous (it has been known to happen, sometimes).

I think most MRTs are like ours in that we try and prevent rather than remonstrate. We spend a lot of our "off" time talking to the public and educating them on hill safety. Sometimes we'll have a collection bucket in our hands outside Tescos, sometimes it'll be in school giving a presentation to a DofE group. Along with mountain bikers, or lemmings in lycra as they're sometimes known, DofE are some of our biggest customers!

As Shingsowa (ironically, as a member of an MRT, who is a lemming in lycra!) said, between time, personal kit and dontations/costs, being a member of an MRT is a very expensive and time consuming "hobby".

 

[kiltedpict]

I agree, having trained with them and chatted to one of the cameramen/directors, I don't believe anything is staged for dramatic effect.

 

[boatman]

I rather think that anyone with an ounce of manners would give as big a bung to the MRT that helped them as they could afford - you see nurses getting boxes of chocs from grateful patients and the occassional slab of beers for the Lifeboat crews.
It would be nice if the nitwits who get into trouble would dig into their pockets as a "thank you", buy the guys a beers or six and give a nice big donation to the MRT funds.
Perhaps part of the rescue procedure should be an education on self responsibility and the funding structure of the MRTs .... not too heavy handed but a spur to making them think about gratitude....

How do know they do not? German Lady in the local paper made a £20 donation to the RNLI after her son was rescued by a lifeguard after having problems on his windsurfer.

 

[boatman]

Staggering home dehydrated etc etc seems a prima facie case to have your licence to walk outside the urban environment revoked. Sauce for the goose....

 

[Shingsowa]

You fall off a bike ONCE, cause a bit of a fuss and shoot yourself in the leg with a flare and suddenly you're a lemming...


---
I am here: http://tapatalk.com/map.php?0inwac

 

[MrHare]

Staggering home dehydrated etc etc seems a prima facie case to have your licence to walk outside the urban environment revoked. Sauce for the goose....

Only if you fail to learn from it. Let him who's never made a mistake throw the first stone.

 

[Biker]

Only if you fail to learn from it. Let him who's never made a mistake throw the first stone.

That's the thing I HAVE learnt from my mistakes, and they were only minor ones. I avoid trying to bite off more than I can chew on such adventures. But then maybe I'm just careful or have the imagination to see the potential hazards of what could go wrong. Not casting any stones here, just having a moan about clueless numpties thinking they're on a walk through the park when they're out on the moors.

 

[MrHare]

That's the point I was trying to make - you (and anyone else likely to be posting here) have the experience to imagine what could go wrong. Someone with no exposure to hill walking doesn't even have the experience to know that they're taking a significant risk. It's easy to say "well they should just stay home then" but they don't even know they're taking a risk. It's very bad luck if the first inexperienced mistake lands you in the yellow helicopter, but it's bound to happen to someone.

It doesn't take much experience to start evaluating those risks, but it takes some. None of us were born with it. The luckier of us gained it young, under the tutelage of wiser heads, but most don't get that chance.

Edit: the 'staggering home dehydrated' thing was probably a bad example - I was within 2 miles of habitation at all times, out training in winter. Ran too far, didn't take enough food and water, came home broken. I was never in danger of being a yellow helicopter passenger.