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Just saw this news article and was very shocked. http
/www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5iTdKeMFopQTXa2YelodnHCsLVzgw?docId=N0732241325381090144A
19 year old lad killed on Scafell Pike, his body found yesterday morning. Him and his mate got separated near the summit in snowy conditions and atrocious weather at about 3pm, his mate got down but he obviously had a few problems and the search party was called off due to the weather for a while.
Very sad and tragic. Scafell Pike is a non-technical peak, and there's nothing on it with any real hazard as such. There's Mickledore and Scafell (particularly Broad Stand) but these aren't really part of the route to Scafell Pike as such, but it states he was found near the Summit. Apart from a few steepish slopes (which could be hazardous in snow for sure, avalanches etc) the summit is very featureless. Difficult to find in crappy weather which it sounds like these guys had, I mean, I went up and got a bit lost on my way down from the summit when I had perfect early morning weather. Easy to get split up too, but I wonder why one of these guys wasn't proficient enough to get himself down too. Wonder what happened to him, very easy to succumb to the cold quickly, or even a slip and hitting his head... we'll never know. Must have been a nightmare up there for them both, alone. Even when your prepared things can get nasty. What did alarm me is that they set off up the mountain at 11.30am. Very late to start, when it's a minimum of a 3 hour climb, and with darkness at 4pm, doesn't give a lot of safety time (obviously I imagine they had headtorches, but it's not ideal). As I know, the weather in these places can change very rapidly, but I wonder if they checked relevant forecasts or knew about the current conditions up there. It's not a particularly treacherous mountain, such as Ben Nevis with it's gullies, avalanches, cornices etc, but tragic accidents like this still happen unfortunately.
I did the 3 Peaks challenge in July, on my own with my stepdad as my support driver, and I broke the world record to be the youngest person to do it on my own at 16. I completed it successfully, with no problems, with 2 hours of spare time. For those of you who don't know, this involves climbing Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon in 24 hours. I'd have said Scafell was the easiest and safest walk out of them all. I had safe Summer weather on all 3 (well, 10 metre visibility on Ben Nevis, but I made it) so I can't compare it to Scafell Pike now when the conditions are different. Scafell Pike may have less dangerous terrain but is also very easy to get lost on. Thankfully I didn't as such, no need for a compass/GPS, just a book, and it took me 3 hrs 17 up and down, but many aren't so lucky. Seeing this makes me realise how vulnerable I was on my own up there, even with the better weather and lower likelihood of snow etc, and separation from his partner unfortunately led to this young man's death. It could have been me up there on my own. I was saddened and surprised to see this article to be honest.
RIP to the young lad, and my thoughts are with his friend and his family who must be in such unbearable grief at this tough time. My respect also goes to the mountain rescue teams, who always do their best in these operations and risk their own lives.
/www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5iTdKeMFopQTXa2YelodnHCsLVzgw?docId=N0732241325381090144A19 year old lad killed on Scafell Pike, his body found yesterday morning. Him and his mate got separated near the summit in snowy conditions and atrocious weather at about 3pm, his mate got down but he obviously had a few problems and the search party was called off due to the weather for a while.
Very sad and tragic. Scafell Pike is a non-technical peak, and there's nothing on it with any real hazard as such. There's Mickledore and Scafell (particularly Broad Stand) but these aren't really part of the route to Scafell Pike as such, but it states he was found near the Summit. Apart from a few steepish slopes (which could be hazardous in snow for sure, avalanches etc) the summit is very featureless. Difficult to find in crappy weather which it sounds like these guys had, I mean, I went up and got a bit lost on my way down from the summit when I had perfect early morning weather. Easy to get split up too, but I wonder why one of these guys wasn't proficient enough to get himself down too. Wonder what happened to him, very easy to succumb to the cold quickly, or even a slip and hitting his head... we'll never know. Must have been a nightmare up there for them both, alone. Even when your prepared things can get nasty. What did alarm me is that they set off up the mountain at 11.30am. Very late to start, when it's a minimum of a 3 hour climb, and with darkness at 4pm, doesn't give a lot of safety time (obviously I imagine they had headtorches, but it's not ideal). As I know, the weather in these places can change very rapidly, but I wonder if they checked relevant forecasts or knew about the current conditions up there. It's not a particularly treacherous mountain, such as Ben Nevis with it's gullies, avalanches, cornices etc, but tragic accidents like this still happen unfortunately.
I did the 3 Peaks challenge in July, on my own with my stepdad as my support driver, and I broke the world record to be the youngest person to do it on my own at 16. I completed it successfully, with no problems, with 2 hours of spare time. For those of you who don't know, this involves climbing Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon in 24 hours. I'd have said Scafell was the easiest and safest walk out of them all. I had safe Summer weather on all 3 (well, 10 metre visibility on Ben Nevis, but I made it) so I can't compare it to Scafell Pike now when the conditions are different. Scafell Pike may have less dangerous terrain but is also very easy to get lost on. Thankfully I didn't as such, no need for a compass/GPS, just a book, and it took me 3 hrs 17 up and down, but many aren't so lucky. Seeing this makes me realise how vulnerable I was on my own up there, even with the better weather and lower likelihood of snow etc, and separation from his partner unfortunately led to this young man's death. It could have been me up there on my own. I was saddened and surprised to see this article to be honest.
RIP to the young lad, and my thoughts are with his friend and his family who must be in such unbearable grief at this tough time. My respect also goes to the mountain rescue teams, who always do their best in these operations and risk their own lives.
