UKC

NEW ARTICLE: Naked - Helicopter Rescue in the South of France

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 UKC Articles 30 Jun 2015
The beach. The accident happened just right of the bush on the far side of the beach., 4 kbDavid Coley writes about an accident in la Calanque which could easily have been prevented - due to an oversight which many of us are guilty of.

Half the people around me were naked. Now you don't get that at Stanage, even on a summer's day. Climbing on the nudist beach of En Vau in la Calanque had initially felt surreal, but after a week had become almost normal.



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 ChrisBrooke 30 Jun 2015
In reply to UKC Articles:

Gee whizz! What a crazy story (with a clear take away message - tie a bleedin' knot in the end of the frickin' rope kids!) Enjoyably written, but describing a total nightmare situation. I've climbed there three years in a row and never noticed the nudists - just families with kids and climbers. I guess you guys just got lucky
Good luck with your recovery.

 planetmarshall 30 Jun 2015
In reply to ChrisBrooke:

> ...with a clear take away message - tie a bleedin' knot in the end of the frickin' rope kids!

And also purchase travel insurance?

 george sewell 30 Jun 2015
In reply to planetmarshall:

> And also purchase travel insurance?

in all fairness i had travel insurance when i had a similar experience Down Hill biking in the Alps and landed heavily on my head and had to get taken down the mountain on a spinal board to this grotty little local surgery where they did some neck x rays , when they had decided that i hadn't done any spinal injury just really bad whip lash and concision ( but no broken neck so that was good ) , they just sold me a neck brace and ye just kinda was abandoned several valleys away from where i was staying and as i didn't have my bank card i had to Waite in the surgery for my mates to drive 3 hours with my card so i could pay ... then had to go with my prescription to buy proscription pain killers and pay for the neck restraint at the pharmacy.
the insurance just let me claim back the £300 when i got back as the surgery was to small to process the insurance and they just cant be bothered.
the care was pretty awe full tbh all they did was make sure i wasn't in a really bad way didn't check for other things didn't say what to do about the concision or what my mates should do other than if i was sick again come back.... bit shit but i survived haha. and still ride down hill bikes :P



was a total pain in the neck ....

prof1001 30 Jun 2015
In reply to UKC Articles:

Dear tourist, it is forbidden to camp in the Calanques National Park:
http://www.calanques-parcnational.fr/fr/a-la-decouverte-du-parc/reglementat...

Please, never come back.
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 nbonnett 30 Jun 2015
In reply to prof1001:

charmant
 SteveSBlake 30 Jun 2015
In reply to UKC Articles:

A great story...... Just when you thought it couldn't get worse!

Steve
Wiley Coyote2 30 Jun 2015
In reply to UKC Articles:

My experience of being taken seriously ill while climbing ill in France was that the hospital (in Montpellier) was superb. I went to a rural GP with what I thought was a minor pain. She came into the surgery specially to treat me, diagnosed a heart problem and despite my protests, had me in an ambulance and away within 30 minutes. At the hospital I had a battery of tests and scans and they operated within an hour. All this on a bank holiday. They kept me in for a week and I had been in the hospital for four days before anyone even asked if I had insurance.
Back in the UK my own GP and my newly-acquired cardiologist were full of praise for my care and said it was probably better than anything I would have got in the UK. The speed of treatment had been crucial in avoiding any serious damage to my heart, they said.
So I guess it means that, a bit like the UK, health care in France can be patchy but I still laugh when I hear anyone trot out the old cliche the NHS is the envy of the world.
 dereke12000 01 Jul 2015
In reply to UKC Articles:

That was painful to read - glad you're OK.

I always make sure we have air repatriation included in the travel insurance when we go to India - I might include this next time for France too !!
 stp 01 Jul 2015
In reply to dereke12000:

Wow, a true climber's tale, really well written. One thing after another, having to bunk the trains etc. I'm sure many of us can relate to much of that.

I climbed in En Vau many years ago. Not so many naked people, I think it was the off season, but so beautiful and calm we almost didn't feel like climbing.

Lowering off the end of the rope, a classic accident so easy to do. Did that to a friend once a long time ago, fortunately he was unhurt apart from a few scratches from a tree. With rope bags maybe a good idea to always keep a good knot tied to the bit of tape for the bottom end of the rope.
France05 02 Jul 2015
In reply to UKC Articles:

> ...with a clear take away message - tie a bleedin' knot in the end of the frickin' rope kids!

And also purchase the local guide book that would have told you (on picture) that we climb with 50m ropes for long route and 70 to 80m for single pitches for the last 20 years...

And also take the f... anaesthetic. It's for you good, we're not known for manslaughter such as Stafford Hospital or Blackpool Victoria.
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 Dr.S at work 02 Jul 2015
In reply to France05:

> And also take the f... anaesthetic. It's for you good, we're not known for manslaughter such as Stafford Hospital or Blackpool Victoria.

Whilst in general terms I'd agree, medication related patient harm occurs in France, just like the rest of the World, and some of those will be cases of manslaughter.

http://www.thelocal.fr/20130527/medication-kills-more-than-road-deaths-and-...
 TobyA 02 Jul 2015
In reply to UKC Articles:

I've already read this (very good) story sometime ago. Did the author just tell it in the forums originally? Or in a magazine? Confused now...
 ChrisBrooke 02 Jul 2015
In reply to TobyA:

'This article first appeared on Cold Mountain Kit's website.' There maybe?
 TobyA 02 Jul 2015
In reply to ChrisBrooke:

Cheers Chris! I clearly didn't read through the whole thing clearly - I guess it must have been there. Perhaps someone linked it here because I don't remember going to their site.
 David Coley 03 Jul 2015
In reply to TobyA:

> Cheers Chris! I clearly didn't read through the whole thing clearly - I guess it must have been there. Perhaps someone linked it here because I don't remember going to their site.

It's a great site, and everyone should go there (and their prices and cheaper than many).



All the best.
 odari 14 Jul 2015
In reply to george sewell:

If the accident happened in the European Union and you were resident in any European Union country at the time, having some sort of health insurance (which you had for sure, although they're named and implemented differently in every country), you had right to ask reimbursement for at least part (but likely everything) you paid for to your country of residence. Having the european health insurance card with you and showing it could even save that, as you're treated like a local and the reimbursement is asked directly from the host country to the country of residence:
http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=559

Some countries (eg. Italy) send the card directly to the residents every 5 years, others (e.g. UK) require you to ask for it, so if you don't know you end thinking you have no medical assistance abroad, sometimes resourcing to a trivial basic private insurance.
 David Coley 16 Jul 2015
In reply to odari:

The good news is that no one even tried to charge us for anything, helicopter, hospital or boat.
Onsteroids 14 Sep 2015
In reply to UKC Articles:
I spent some time as a trainee in some of the hospitals in and around Marseille. Some of them offer world-class healthcare. The wages were bad, but the learning and climbing were absolutely great.

There are some private hospitals around les calanques. Chances are they flew you to one of those, only to hear they didn't want to treat some potentially uninsured tourist. It's a typical conflict between medicine for cash, and medicine for helping people.
Wherever i've been in the world, stepping into a hospital has a lot in common with stepping into a garage. Quality varies, an you never know what they're going to do and charge you for.

Glad everything turned out intact, wallet, harness and health.
Post edited at 11:33

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