Fucking moron
putting volunteer rescue workers lives in danger
Woman scales Ben Nevis wielding selfie stick instead of ice axe
A Brighton woman made it to the peak of Ben Nevis wearing shorts and trainers and wielding a selfie stick, but had to be helped off the Britain’s highest mountain by rescuers after it turned out it’s still winter at 4,411 feet. Sarah Albone, a 28 year old from Brighton, made a spontaneous decision last Saturday to interrupt …
-
-
-
Thursday 31st March 2016 14:44 GMT Voland's right hand
Re: Fucking moron
So you've never done anything on the spur of the moment
There is a distinct difference between spur of the moment and Darwin award.
She should have been charged for the time and resources of all rescue services involved on a punitive tariff.
Disclaimer - I spent a few years training as a rescue service volunteer (not in the UK) while in high school, I am qualified to do that and still have the old overalls with the edelweiss insignia somewhere. So I am probably a bit biased. Just a bit. Actualy, no, she wielded a self-infatuation "cretin attached" tool. No, not a bit. A lot.
-
-
Thursday 31st March 2016 17:39 GMT Graham Bartlett
Re: Fucking moron
""There is a distinct difference between spur of the moment and Darwin award."
Indeed, however that difference is often chance."
Only because whatever fucking stupid thing they've done turns out not to kill them. In general it's safe to say that the more egregiously fucking stupid it is, the lower the odds on survival. The fact of its innate and undeniable fucking stupidity, and the fact of that person's innate and undeniable fucking stupidity in doing whatever it was on the spur of the moment, are unchanged.
I'd also note that Ben Nevis typically takes around 8 hours, and you'll be seriously cold a long way before the top. It might be spur of the moment at the start, but there's a shitload of opportunity along the way to realise "this was a fucking stupid idea".
-
-
Thursday 31st March 2016 15:29 GMT d3vy
Re: Fucking moron
Read the article you tool.
She was not rescued by mountain rescue, the people who helped her down were already up there having just ascended via the north face (braver than I am).
So she was helpped down by people who were already up there and were going to be walking down anyway. She just tagged along (well there was some sharing of clothing and supplies apparently) so who exactly needs to be financially compensated for this?
As a side I've been up BN a few times, the most memorable was in 2013 when it was 30+ degrees most of the way up and dropped to below 0 during the last few hundred metres ascent.
From what she said she jsut kept going while the weather was good... It's easy to get carried away in a situation like that and keep going for the top without thinking about the return journey.
She is just lucky she didn't get too close to the edge go through a cornice.
-
Thursday 31st March 2016 16:26 GMT Tim Jenkins
Re: Fucking moron
"...30+ degrees most of the way up and dropped to below 0 during the last few hundred metres ascent..."
Yup, been there; it's one seriously weird mountain. Early summertime walk, set off accompanied by bright sunshine and pleasant warmth, was in full waterproofs, hat, gloves and ski goggles (on account of the driving ice particles propelled by the galeforce wind) at the top. Staggered down out of the zero-visibility zone to encounter a foreign tourist (German, natch) heading up garbed in the proverbial t-shirt, shorts and sandals, equipped with a sandwich and pack of crisps in a carrier bag. Guess he might be still up there somewhere...
-
-
Thursday 31st March 2016 17:20 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: Fucking moron
Disclaimer - I spent a few years training as a rescue service volunteer (not in the UK) while in high school, I am qualified to do that and still have the old overalls with the edelweiss insignia somewhere. So I am probably a bit biased. Just a bit.
I went up a 3km alp in '96 in shorts, trainers and a cagoule, with a camera, a mars bar and a can of coke. Breathing was beginning to be fun at 1.5km! Had to climb the last hundred ft or so and that was hairy in places. Got to the glacier at the top - then the cloud rolled in.
Great adventure, the like of which I hadn't had since I was a kid! I'd do it again, but with trousers, boots, and a jacket that didn't make me pour sweat - if 20 years older I'm still capable of it, which I suspect I might not be.
Once below the cloud - where the alpine flowers were but still above the treeline I stopped for a drink from a spring - Evian at source, I guess. Looked to the right at a line of goats on near-vertical escarpment. A couple of days later went up another alp by rail and there while waiting for the train to go back down saw lightning hit the ground 50ft or so in front of me!
I suppose the difference is I would either get down myself or die trying. They could leave my corpse as a warning to others.
-
Thursday 31st March 2016 17:44 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: Fucking moron
Heh, yeah. As an American, 4,411* feet doesn't sound like a big deal. I've climbed bigger mountains in a summer afternoon in shorts and t-shirt with nothing but a bottle of water and a few snacks. In summer, mind you.
*I'm sure it's still impressive, and I would definitely climb it if I ever have the opportunity.
-
Thursday 31st March 2016 18:15 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: Fucking moron
Life is all about spur of the moment fuck ups.
My fuck up was getting pissed, carrying on drinking in the morning and booking a flight to Manilla then waking up half trashed in business class, landing in Taiwan wondering what the fuck was going on only to do the walk of shame through Taipei airport for my connecting flight wearing nothing but a t-shirt and three quarter length pants with no luggage...
I was there three weeks in the end staying with my brother, came back and sorted everything out.
I would say I've grown up, which I have but that was only a couple of years ago...
One day I would rather say I lived rather than existed.
This woman messed up but that is all she is guilty of, I say fair play for attempting it without the foresight, if she did it again it would be a different opinion.
-
Thursday 31st March 2016 19:31 GMT quattroprorocked
Re: Fucking moron
1) It's not the height, it's the fact that you're pretty much at sea level when you start that makes it a proper climb.
2) You're on the coast. Facing the ocean, with wet air hitting it and going straight up. It's more changeable than, something very changeable indeed.
3) It's spring. Lovely at the bottom. Suddenly lethal at the top.
British mountains are more dangerous than they look, and spring is the most dangerous time because inexperienced people get tempted up, and it all goes hypothermia.
I used to bounce around on mountains, on my own, all year long. Loved it. But I had the gear, the knowledge and fitness. Sadly my knees are shot now - I can go up OK, but coming down became agony.
-
Friday 1st April 2016 13:57 GMT Anonymous Coward
@quattroprorocked
Coast at the base of the mountain makes a huge difference.
In Cape Town there is a moderately serious (3500ft) mountain (Table Mountain) where every winter some unprepared idiot gets lost in the cloud at the top and falls down a gorge. It does not even snow but if you go wandering about with no clue what you are doing, you can die of it.
Just because the weather is mild at sea level tells you nothing about the top.
*(well most years anyway)
-
Friday 1st April 2016 08:50 GMT Alan J. Wylie
It's further north than you think
Ben Nevis is not quite 57° north. The southern end of Alaska is a bit north of 51°.
I've been half way up Pike's Peak in the spring. It's nothing compared to the Highlands of Scotland at this time of year.
I've never made it to the summit of the Ben. 1st attempt we came along the Càrn Mòr Dearg Arête in glorious sunshine, got as far of the abseil posts, saw the clouds rolling in, abandoned the climb and descended down the side of the water slide. 2nd time we'd done Number 4 gully, which was sheltered from the wind, but on the plateau the conditions were so unpleasant we made a direct line for the zig-zags.
-
This post has been deleted by its author
-
-
Friday 1st April 2016 21:32 GMT John Brown (no body)
Re: Fucking moron
"Heh, yeah. As an American, 4,411* feet doesn't sound like a big deal. I've climbed bigger mountains in a summer afternoon in shorts and t-shirt with nothing but a bottle of water and a few snacks. In summer, mind you."
Yeah. But worth remembering that Ben Nevis is like being a few 100 miles north of Edmonton, Canada in March at 4,411ft. It''s a shade under 57oNorth
-
-
-
Thursday 31st March 2016 18:30 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: Fucking moron
> Disclaimer - I spent a few years training as a rescue service volunteer (not in the UK)
Well, as it happens, I am also a trained and experienced rescuer. Yours seems to be the Swiss philosophy, aka survival of the richest.
Where I was a volunteer, rescues are never charged (or at least they weren't in my time), on the basis that you cannot put a price on human life.
If it wasn't an actual rescue situation, such as people who were simply to tired to get back off the mountain but not in any actual danger, the chaps on the phone may have limited themselves to give them advice (or a bollocking, depending on who picked up the call), but from my further experience in the emergency services, as a professional in this case, I would say that if you are going to be judgemental about your "customers", then you should not be there in the first place.
-
Friday 1st April 2016 15:57 GMT JLV
Re: Fucking moron
>She should have been charged
Our local rescue services in BC have time and again advised against billing the clueless. Their rationale? Knowledge of pending costs would cause people to delay calling for help and instead try to make it out on their own. Which usually makes thing worse for everyone by making them even more lost.
Time and again, moron commentards suggest invoicing lost folk, claiming to speak on behalf of the rescue people.
-
-
Saturday 2nd April 2016 16:44 GMT JLV
Re: Fucking moron
I specificallly have no opinion on "the dozy mare". Live and let live.
I do have a, negative, opinion of those who advocate charging for rescue ops. For the reason I mention - it doesn't work as a useful deterrent.
Now "doesn't work" is pretty high on my list of drawbacks, as I suspect it is for many IT folk ;-)
-
-
-
-
Thursday 31st March 2016 15:38 GMT Stanislaw
Re: Fucking moron
So you've never done anything on the spur of the moment.
There's nothing wrong with spontaneity. What is very, very wrong is heading off into a situation when you don't have the first f*#$%ing clue what you're up against. This story serves to illustrate the saying, "fools rush in..." extremely well.
I've climbed Ben Nevis in mid-summer and there was snow, thick fog, and a wind chill to well below zero*. That I came back without assistance is because I knew those conditions were a possibility and I was prepared for it. Nobody should be up there at this time of year without survival gear and at least some training.
* On the plus side, at least there weren't any midges
-
-
Thursday 31st March 2016 15:49 GMT Stanislaw
Re: Fucking moron
"There's nothing wrong with spontaneity."
Just with understanding what the word means, I guess?
Oh please. I can decide, on the spur of the moment, to go climb a very big, tall mountain, and because I am an experienced mountaineer I know I have a reasonable chance of coming back alive.
Equally I could decide, on the spur of the moment, to swim the Channel, which I've never done and have no idea how to do. That would be bloody stupid, wouldn't it?
-
Friday 1st April 2016 14:33 GMT Archie Woodnuts
Re: Fucking moron
"That would be bloody stupid, wouldn't it?"
Well, yes, it would be stupid. You're still conflating spontaneity - that is to say, acting upon sudden impulses or taking unplanned action - with considered decision making as to whether it is sensible to do a thing, or if you are even capable of it so...
-
-
-
Thursday 31st March 2016 15:49 GMT Triggerfish
Re: Fucking moron
Mixed on this. I live near the peaks and it can often be sunny down in the valley and you will see cars from the tops coming by with an inch or two of snow, it was lovely a couple of days ago, a couple of hundred feet higher and two miles away they got what looked like almost 3 inches of snow in the space of four hours.
I think a lot of people who do not live near places like this, especially if you come from the nice flat South where I am originally from don't get how harsh the difference can be, or how changeable so quickly, or how dangerous it can be. Really would not suprise me if she just though hmmn very big hill, rather than thinking it could turn into mini Alpine adventure.
On balance I would say it was a silly thing to do, but I am willing to forgive because of ignorance and also because they are aware enough to realise their stupidity.
If it was someone who does know about these sort of conditions and still risked a quick trip I would have a lot less sympathy.
At the same time, yeah stuff like this is what Darwin awards are about. :)
-
Thursday 31st March 2016 18:39 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: Fucking moron
> What is very, very wrong is heading off into a situation when you don't have the first f*#$%ing clue what you're up against.
If you haven't a clue what you're up against, then how would you know that you are unprepared? Did you really never find yourself in such a situation?
Come on, it's a wonder that most of us make it to adult life looking back at the incredibly idiotic things we used to do as kids.
The mountains, like the sea, deserts, or jungle, are a world of their own but that is not necessarily general knowledge amongst the people who do not live there. All those things may look very inoffensive at first sight, or when you read a book or watch a photo of them.
-
Thursday 31st March 2016 19:19 GMT Stanislaw
Re: Fucking moron
If you haven't a clue what you're up against, then how would you know that you are unprepared?
Because it's a 4000+ft mountain at 57 degrees N on the west coast of Scotland with absolutely nothing to stop the Atlantic weather barrelling in. In March, for pity's sake. None of this is secret information.
In other words: Common Sense.
-
Friday 1st April 2016 19:10 GMT KeithR
Re: Fucking moron
"If you haven't a clue what you're up against, then how would you know that you are unprepared? Did you really never find yourself in such a situation?"
Oh, do FUCK OFF. It's not like "dicking around in the Scottish mountains is a dangerous idea" is such a well-kept secret...
-
-
-
-
-
Thursday 31st March 2016 20:57 GMT Doctor Syntax
Re: Fucking moron
"Pretty lucky really."
Very lucky. Because if she'd not been found there'd have been a big turnout of mountain rescue volunteers. Given that she'd diverted from her previous plans they might even have been turned out in the wrong place and spent even longer than they otherwise might by looking in the wrong place.
-
-
-
Thursday 31st March 2016 21:06 GMT Doctor Syntax
Re: Fucking moron
"Well, no-one from Mountain Rescue was actually involved, and no-one other than her was ever in danger."
AFAICS the only reason Mountain Rescue wasn't involved was that she was rescued before anyone realised she was missing. It's not clear whether she told anyone what she was doing so it might have been a good while before anyone knew she was missing. Had she not been lucky enough to have been found a good many people might have spent a lot of time looking for her in the wrong place. But hey, it turned out OK by sheer good luck so it doesn't matter that she did everything wrong she could have possibly done.
-
-
Thursday 31st March 2016 18:20 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: Fucking moron
> putting volunteer rescue workers lives in danger
a. We're volunteers, as you correctly state.
b. We won't put ourselves in danger. The first rule of rescue, as anyone who has done a basic half-a-morning first aid course should know, is "do not put yourself in danger".
c. If you actually read the article (it may have been edited though), it says she was helped by other ramblers¹ she came across.
d. It appears that she wasn't an experienced mountaineer so it is understandable she might have not realised the extent to which she was unprepared. In which case, I do not see why you would call her a "moron". Even very safe and experienced people make errors of judgement out there.
¹ Sorry, I'm part Scottish but I live next to the Alps. A mere thousand metres does not register as a "climb" around here², unless it's properly vertical.
² In seriousness, latitude does make a huge difference, and the weather at Ben Nevis is comparable to a much taller mountain in the Alps, but that shouldn't stop me from taking the piss.
-
Thursday 31st March 2016 21:26 GMT future research
Re: Fucking moron
"¹ Sorry, I'm part Scottish but I live next to the Alps. A mere thousand metres does not register as a "climb" around here², unless it's properly vertical.
² In seriousness, latitude does make a huge difference, and the weather at Ben Nevis is comparable to a much taller mountain in the Alps, but that shouldn't stop me from taking the piss.
Nope, they where Climbers. They had just got the the top via the north face. i.e. vertical Ice climb.
-
Friday 1st April 2016 19:07 GMT KeithR
Re: Fucking moron
"c. If you actually read the article (it may have been edited though), it says she was helped by other ramblers¹ she came across."
And if she hadn't had that stroke of utter fucking luck, she'd have been on the selfie device yammering for someone to come and rescue her.
Or she'd be dead.
WOULDN'T SHE?
-
-
Monday 4th April 2016 23:43 GMT Someone_Somewhere
Re: Fucking moron
I'm from daahn saahf and clueless.
I don't even know where Ben Nevis is and have no experience of mountain-climbing /anywhere/.
But I haven't been living under a rock either, so even I know Ben Nevis/Dartmoor/a-few-ther-places is dangerous for exactly this reason - because (every couple of years) there's a report in the media/press about (yet another) Darwin Award candidate.
-
-
Thursday 31st March 2016 13:46 GMT Kristian Walsh
A good apology would be...
... a large donation to the local Mountain Rescue.
Despite what people think, MR is staffed by volunteers (albeit with occasional central-government funding for equipment) - they're risking their lives for no monetary reward, so you could at least do them the courtesy of being in an emergency that you didn't directly cause*.
For anyone else considering such a bloody stupid idea as this:
1. Don't. You could quite likely die.
2. If you insist, phone someone BEFORE YOU START, and tell them where you're starting from, where you're heading, and when you expect to be back. That way, when your brain stops working from hypothermia, at least someone lucid will realise that you've got yourself into deep shit.
but, most importantly:
3. Don't. You could quite likely die.
(* words aren't bad enough for the people who then sue their rescuers for "inadequate care" while saving their self-important lives from the results of their own stupidity)
-
Thursday 31st March 2016 13:57 GMT AbelSoul
Re: sue their rescuers for "inadequate care"
I'd happily donate a little extra for the helicopter fuel, etc, required to return such fuds to their exact location prior to being so rudely interrupted by those pesky rescuers with their "inadequate care".
Still, to be fair to the main protagonist in this tale, she at least realises that she became that tit that all proper climbers talk about. Hopefully a much wiser individual for the experience.
-
Biting the hand that feeds IT
