Mountain Rescue
Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2021 10:49 pm
This is an old git's point of view but before about 2000, people didn't call MR out for themselves. They couldn't, because mobile phones were fairly new and the hills didn't have coverage. MR got called out because you hadn't returned. With the mobile phone, MR has become an unthinking option rather than a last resort. A whole bunch of the publicised fines have been for what sound like unnecessary callouts. I'm lost on the Cobbler. My tent's blown down on Ben Chonzie. I'm lost on Ben Lomond! Eh? The one in the Lake District where the boy was suffering from chest pains and anxiety - it should have been a call to NHS 24.
Back then, we made a lot of mistakes but worked out the answers in time, mostly by a fine margin, leading to a phone box call home in darkness. That was to cancel the rescue. The call home brought the news that they'd forgotten you were out and had mislaid your route details anyway.
In the last half dozen years, I've been on the hill with someone who's dislocated a shoulder and with someone who's broken their leg and we've got off self-powered. The broken leg was only a mile and the fractures were weight-bearing. It still involved a river crossing and the worst thigh deep icy swamp I've encountered. The shoulder was from the top of Ben Ime to Inveruglas. We didn't bother the MR.
The broken leg was in the Lake District. So at 7pm we were going into Minor Injuries at the Western, instead of a hospital in Penrith. The Beinn Ime case was repaired and in a pub in Morningside by 5.30. The doctor who put him together in Paisley had said we should have called out the MR. That was because his mate was on call and he'd never been on a helicopter. It's generally better for you to try and work your own way off the hill.
I'm not for ideas like compulsory insurance. But one thought would be a standing charge of £200 per skull for a rescue. It's a pretty nominal charge for what you get (and is in line with the standard fine but should be regarded as a thank you to MR, not a punishment.) The money could go into a fund for extra equipment or just be divvied by year among the various MRs. The money could be charged at point of rescue. Everybody seems to have apps to pinpoint location and request the rescue - they'll also have an app to transfer the funds. It might just make people realise that self-reliance is cheaper - and it's less fuss.
Back then, we made a lot of mistakes but worked out the answers in time, mostly by a fine margin, leading to a phone box call home in darkness. That was to cancel the rescue. The call home brought the news that they'd forgotten you were out and had mislaid your route details anyway.
In the last half dozen years, I've been on the hill with someone who's dislocated a shoulder and with someone who's broken their leg and we've got off self-powered. The broken leg was only a mile and the fractures were weight-bearing. It still involved a river crossing and the worst thigh deep icy swamp I've encountered. The shoulder was from the top of Ben Ime to Inveruglas. We didn't bother the MR.
The broken leg was in the Lake District. So at 7pm we were going into Minor Injuries at the Western, instead of a hospital in Penrith. The Beinn Ime case was repaired and in a pub in Morningside by 5.30. The doctor who put him together in Paisley had said we should have called out the MR. That was because his mate was on call and he'd never been on a helicopter. It's generally better for you to try and work your own way off the hill.
I'm not for ideas like compulsory insurance. But one thought would be a standing charge of £200 per skull for a rescue. It's a pretty nominal charge for what you get (and is in line with the standard fine but should be regarded as a thank you to MR, not a punishment.) The money could go into a fund for extra equipment or just be divvied by year among the various MRs. The money could be charged at point of rescue. Everybody seems to have apps to pinpoint location and request the rescue - they'll also have an app to transfer the funds. It might just make people realise that self-reliance is cheaper - and it's less fuss.