On Tue, 10 Feb 2004 21:14:43 -0000, "J.Poyner"
wrote:

... to rescueclimbers who totally misjudged or ignored the forecast, were
ill-equipped or downright stupid.
Hopefully it is a minority as no doubt there are lots of others who go up,
come down safely who we never hear about of course.......the hills are there
for all to enjoy.

That's a point too often missed; the vast majority get up and down
safely and wihtout inconveniencing anybody. A few get down through
sheer good luck (being ill-equipped and ignorant of the hazards) but
most do precisely what you suggest they should, always get down
safely... and are never heard about.

To my great regret at the time, my party of walkers decided to stop
1,000 feet from the top of Ben Nevis, many years ago, in good weather.
Skies to the West indicated that an advancing front with strong winds
and snow would arrive sooner than expected. Although conditions were
OK at the time, we needed to be sure that if conditions deteriorated
suddenly (as they do!) we still had time to get down before dark. So
we stayed below 3500 feet, practising cramponing and digging snowholes
(in a safe location). Thoroughly enjoyable it was, too!

A few people continued on towards the summit, with one pair wearing
trainers. They ignored our friendly advice... that really annoyed us
and *you* would have been spitting blood! But my main point is that
generalising from specific incidents such as this can easily create a
false impression. Most of "us" do the right thing, always.

Cheers

--
Dave