What would you do? (Hillwalking question)

[Spinney]

7pm on a Friday evening. You are just setting off into the Lake District hills with a few mates and camping gear, intending to wild camp. As you start your ascent, you are only 10 minutes from the village, you come across a woman descending with two rucksacks, fairly large for day packs. A few yards behind is another woman with no rucksack and one arm in a sling.

What would you do?

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

Offer to carry one of the rucksacks down to the village

 

[summerdays]

If you are only 10 mins from the village then it's not too far back there again if they want help. How would I feel if either of them then took another tumble and I hadn't even offered, they may be feeling quite exhausted to get that far. And they may say no if they felt that they had come so far and that they could do that last bit themselves.

 

[Globalti]

I would ask what happened and how they were and whether there was anything I could do to help such as carry the sac down, that's all. Climbers, like cavers, mariners and other outdoors people, have a duty to hep each other irrespective of the cost to themselves.

 

[Cush]

For any decent minded out door person walker or cyclist there is only one answer. You see the people get all the help they need. If they are determined to get back under there own steam; you as the able bodied person provide a discreet escort.

 

[cosmicbike]

Offer to help, it's only going to cost half an hour of your life..

 

[Spinney]

You've all said what I thought. I was the one with the two rucksacks. We were on a two day trip, so our rucksacks had spare clothes, toothbrushes etc, not just the normal day walk stuff.

The four men just said hello as they passed.

We might have taken them up on an offer of help. My friend had a dislocated shoulder from a slip on the scree near the top of Red Pike, and we had been descending for about 90 minutes (very slowly!). She preferred to walk down rather than try to summon rescue to the mountain (even assuming we could have got a signal to summon help!). We had managed to get a signal about half an hour before we met these chaps. Although the ambulance service are not supposed to send ambulances to wait for people, given the remote location (Buttermere) they had done so, based on our estimate of us being about half an hour from the valley floor. I would have either asked one of the men to go back to the Fish hotel to reassure the ambulance crew, if they arrived before us, that we were nearly there, or to carry a rucksack and escort my friend while I went ahead and waited for the ambulance. It would probably have taken only 15 minutes of their time.

As it happened the ambulance did arrive just before us, but my phone again had a signal so I got the call they made to check where we were. So we came to no harm due to their lack of help, but it did seem to both of us that some offer of help could have been made. We would have done, had the positions been reversed.

Friend now has shoulder arranged as it should be and is back with her family.

And a final moan about Davies taxis in Keswick. We were booked into the YHA in Buttermere, so I went on there after the ambulance had taken my friend away to Whitehaven. I booked a taxi for the following morning to take me back to my car at the north end of Cat Bells. Fifteen minutes after the taxi should have arrived I phoned to enquire - they had no record of my booking, and were now booked up for several hours! I started hitch-hiking, and some lovely people keeping track of a DofE group gave me a lift in their minibus almost to my car. As it happened I could have walked as friend did not get discharged from Whitehaven until about 3 pm!
(Sorry, turned into a bit of a moan!)

 

[ufkacbln]

Many years ago we went up to Blencathra via Sharp Edge. The Weather forecast was not good, but acceptable if we took care. So off we went...

The weather then got worse and as we approached had a discussion about whether to retrace and use the route up Scales Fell instead

The decision was made by a family of 5 who were up there on a bad day with trainers and unsuitable waterproofs, already soaked and one unhappy eight year old.

After a somewhat one sided discussion (mainly our side) the family was equipped with our spare clothing and escorted back to Threlkeld

As above, with knowledge and experience comes responsibility, and it is only right to help others

Besides there is always Karma.... when we redid the abandoned route a few days later it was a lovely bright day

 

[Crackle]

Unlucky Spinney but congrats for managing a difficult situation. Your friend must have some grit to walk down with a dislocated shoulder, ouch.

 

[TVC]

Always offer help, it might be your turn tomorrow.

 

[ufkacbln]

some lovely people keeping track of a DofE group gave me a lift in their minibus almost to my car.

I love the DOE

When we did the C2C we crossed RookHope Common on a cold, wet windy day, intending to warm ourselves in the Rookhope Inn

However it was closed and the car park empty apart form a minibus

The door opened, two cups of tea were thrust upon us and the warmth of the van offered

A nice and welcome surprise

 

[coffeejo]

Hope your friend feels better soon.

 

[classic33]

Thouht the unwritten rule of hillwalking was to offer help if you thought it was needed.

Did it as a group years ago, whilst doing the three peaks. Coming down Scafell, five people carrying another on a survival bag.
Smaller rucksacks were sent down with the three we sent down to get help, with the free backs now carrying one of those carrying the person. Those who'd been carrying her when we came across them had theirs taken of them.

 

[raleighnut]

Offering assistance is as much a part of hillwalking as closing gates behind you, the fact she had her arm in a sling should have let them know that she wasn't just tired. Bet that lot wouldn't know what to do if they heard the 3 whistle blasts in the distance either, sme*heads

 

[Crackle]

Clearly those guys should have asked you if you needed any help, but is there an unwritten rule of hillwalking that says you can't ask for help if you need it? Glad your friend is OK Spinney.

That's true. I remember being asked by one bloke to help him find his boots. He'd taken them off while he he had lunch, got up for a wander and now couldn't find them. I couldn't find them either.

I'd like to think I'd have asked but in that kind of environment where you see people being resilient and testing their own self-reliance, I might not have.