I did Not climb over the weekend and here’s why-
i live in the Highlands, just north of Inverness on the Black Isle. My local crag/boulders is in Strathnairn a beautiful glen just south of Inverness and about 20 to 30 minutes drive from my house.
currently Raigmore Hospital in Inverness has 7 ICU beds, NHS Highland are trying to expand this by cancelling all non essential surgeries and changing over theatres to Covid 19 ICU rooms. But it will still NOT BE ENOUGH.
Most of the time I boulder alone, developing new venues so the likelihood of contracting or passing on the contagion in my case is almost zero, However I know and so do all of the climbing community that the sketchiest part of our climbing day is the drive back and forth on poor mountain roads to get to the crag.
How does getting in a car accident affect NHS recourses in the Highlands?
There are 320k people living over a vast area in the Highlands and the 2 main Hospitals we have here are gearing up to treat a huge number of those inhabitants Please Please do not add to that number depriving someone of the chance for life just because You fancied a day out from the city or you and your camper van are using Ruthven car park as a sanctuary away from the virus.
with this in mind I chose not to boulder this weekend and will not be until our amazing folk in the NHS and the government get a much better grip on things.
i chose instead to spend time with my family in the garden and started building that boulder wall I have been putting off for an age.
Stay safe people and all the best
