UKC

BMC's Wales access and conservation officer says you can't make Snowdon safe by engineering away dangers. Casual walkers must be better prepared and long-term plan needed :-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-west-wales-28808550

Seems good idea to me.

BMC press release here:_
https://www.thebmc.co.uk/press-release-snowdon-isnt-working-says-bmc?s=4

Quote from it; [Snowdon] "With over 477,000 walkers on its main paths each year it is arguably the busiest and most popular mountain in the world. It needs a vision and a funded work programme that’s agreed and shared with all stakeholders to provide the resources required to protect the special qualities of this unique and often abused mountain area.”

Yes, indeed.

In reply to Chris_Mellor:

Another example of shoddy journalism -

"Climbers want a long-term plan to cut the number of preventable accidents on Snowdon as visitor numbers boom."

It's not just climbers that want this.

In reply to higherclimbingwales:


Who else wants it?

Here in Scotland we can still wander off and die if we want.

In reply to higherclimbingwales:

I don't. But then I don't climb so much any more so maybe that's it.

In reply to Chris_Mellor:

bolt it

In reply to ow arm:
Grid bolting the whole of Snowdon would be quite a project.

In reply to ow arm:


Top-rope it

In reply to Chris_Mellor:

All they actually need is to improve the signage at the start of the path. This would do it:

http://www.dreamwidth.org/userpic/4954/135

Remove all 'safety' features and MRT cover.
We'll see a spate of deaths for a couple of years and then that will put folk off.....they'll give up or go else where..

Only kidding...........but the under lying point is that when you dumb things down, it attracts folks.
You can't keep working towards the lowest common denominator on a mountain, otherwise it's kind of, no longer a mountain, if you see what I mean.

In reply to higherclimbingwales:




As far as the general public are concerned a Climber is someone who climbs mountains, not just rock climbers.

The first thing to look at in any 'health and safety' precaution is training.

But then lots of us with experience and even training have found ourselves caught out.

I would question whether two or three deaths in 477,000 odd is really worth a blanket capture all approach. Maybe rangers wandering the hills giving out advice to people who are obviously out of their depth. Particularly around the 'Three Peaks' madness month.

In reply to DancingOnRock:




Rangers already do this but there's only a limited number of them. perhaps the money would be better spent employing more!

It's not just deaths that are the problem. there are scores more who injure themselves on Snowdon, usually through their own lack of nous! but yes, 3 deaths in half a million is hardly significant!

In reply to higherclimbingwales:


Yep. Uk general mortality rate is much higher so snowdon is pretty safe really. More people die falling down the stairs

In reply to balmybaldwin:




I think you assuming all Snowdon visitors stay for a year!

In reply to MG:

I know, but uk rate is so much higher (9.33/1000) that it probably holds true

In reply to balmybaldwin:

In 2013 there were 1,713 recorded fatalities and 21,657 serious injuries on roads in Britain.

I know where I'm most at risk. And it isn't on Snowdon.

In reply to LastBoyScout: Fixed rope from car park to summit. Clip on and away you go.

In reply to Andy Say:

But it may be that for miles travelled you are more at risk on Snowden?

In reply to Chris_Mellor:

Sounds like a good idea, and while we are at it, we need to make the coast line more safe. Dozens of people fall off cliffs (or jump) every year and die, particluraly the cliffs near Beachy Head. They should be fenced off to make them safer. And what about the people who get drowned by freak waves snatching them from the coastline during storms? The sea is very dangerous and again we should fence it off to stop people wandering too close to it.

In reply to Andy Say:



When did accurate perception of risk ever penetrate the media or public brain? <sighs deeply>

In reply to Chris_Mellor:

Since the world and their brother have a smartphone, signs with QR codes on them that direct people to a website with weather forecast, and other 'tourist' warnings depending on the day.

In reply to DancingOnRock:
In fact somebody should design something a bit like this, really!

http://mountainsafe.co.uk/site/en/#

Coupled with an app for the phone would of course be better - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-mid-wales-17004502

In reply to Chris_Mellor:

Who want this? All the climbers I know go to great lengths and expense to learn and protect themselves and others.... saying 'climbers want this' is utter rubbish. The hills are there for us all to revel in, uneducated walkers have nothing to do with climbers.

In reply to Blake:

The BMC want it.
The BMC are climbers.
Ergo Climbers want it.

In reply to Chris_Mellor:



but what does that mean/entail ?

In reply to DancingOnRock:

Is that a joke...? I'm not sure and feel that text has lost the sublety of your humour - if it is, then haha, I agree.

In reply to Blake:
It's a comment on the way the journalist has reported it.

The BMC are calling for people to be safer in the hills. So in the context of the article the BMC are the climbers being referred to.

By saying 'climbers' the journalist is really saying 'a group of people who represent the interests of climbers and hill walkers...'

As I wrote earlier, to the general population a climber is someone who 'climbs' mountains. That includes hill walkers, mountaineers, and climbers.