But presumably a broomstick in one hand and wand in the other.
This is a fun little story in the British press about someone who fell down a mountain in Scotland recently (though after a decade in Japan, I'm tempted to refer to it as a hill). When I heard the news, just about my first thought was that his ice-axe was probably tied to his rucksack (and I said as much to jules, I'm not making it up after the event). Bingo. I had it drummed into me from an early age that they aren't much use back there!
This is a fun little story in the British press about someone who fell down a mountain in Scotland recently (though after a decade in Japan, I'm tempted to refer to it as a hill). When I heard the news, just about my first thought was that his ice-axe was probably tied to his rucksack (and I said as much to jules, I'm not making it up after the event). Bingo. I had it drummed into me from an early age that they aren't much use back there!
7 comments:
Definitely no use on your back. Moreover, I always ended up carrying mine in my hand from the start since putting it in the alleged ice axe loops would end up with it flapping all over the place and possibly hitting people in the face.
Can't imagine why he wasn't carrying his ice axe in his hand...that's pretty perverse.
On the other hand I am familiar with the tendency to put ones' crampons on somewhat later than one really should do, since it's a bit of a faff and your hands are cold and so on....
As for Scottish mountains being a little underwhelming height-wise, they make up for it in sheer beauty, and the fact that pretty much every ascent you do starts near sea level, so you have to climb their full height ...but obviously no need for Alpine style refuges....
Also the changeable weather mkes Scottish mountains more dangerous than the predictable Alps. Sun rain snow sun all in one day.
There used to be bothies scattered around the place where you could at least hide in an emergency, but they've been taken out of commission by vandals and allegedly people who don't want other people to think they'll find nice warm places to stay in, as apparently happened a decade or two ago.
That reminds me - weren't they removing the emergency hut at the top of Ben Nevis? Wikipedia seems to think it is still there though.
Guessing from what is reported, he was strolling along the ridge near the top, and only realised when he slipped that he didn't have any way of stopping. A bit of goretex is pretty slippy compared to boot soles. I was told this was a pretty common type of accident.
Yes, I agree the Scottish mountains are challenging for their size. I was pretty cowardly at first in Japan before coming to realise that even the 3000m peaks are pretty tame in summer, especially with huts providing shelter in emergencies. I think I still give them sufficient respect though - I've always been happy to turn back when things look dodgy.
Mountain Bothies:
http://www.mountainbothies.org.uk/
Since the form seems free association on the appropriate equipage when falling off a mountain:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_wCkmZC-8o&NR=1
The sound in the second vid is a Scottish band, the location is in the same area, though slightly more sedate, as the first one and shot contemporaneously with Mr. Potter’s adventure. And, I’m located roughly below a perpendicular dropped from the point where an extension of the contrail near the end would meet the horizon.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTthRE51fRw
Must be hard to play the guitar while skiing...
I once saw a helmet cam video of someone doing something similar in the Japanese mountains (off the top of Hotakadake into Karawasa Curl). The main difference being it started straight down a narrow gulley, so the skiier had to point straight downhill and just plummet.
This is in the same area but a much wider slope:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_BqEw7Ij5A
We carry ice axes rather than skiis in these conditions, and not strapped to our backs!
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