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    Mountain rescue + Bristow helicopters

    I bring you some very disturbing news from Mountain Rescue.

    A few years ago search and rescue was privaisted - for various reasons - and Bristow Helicopters got the contract. However, all is not well and four mountain rescue teams have issued a statement criticising the contract. The contents of the letter are below and it is a long letter but to summarize:

    1. Bristow Helicopters are contracted to rescue people in distress.

    Mountain rescue volunteers are not in distress, even if that means a four hour walk back to the car park from the Cairngorm Plateau in a storm. Previously RAF / army / RN helicopter would take them off. From the Cairngorm plateau to a car park in Aviemore in a helicopter takes less than 5 minutes.

    2. A body is not a person in distress. Therefore Bristow helicopters are not taking them off the mountains, meaning mountain rescue have to carry them for miles and down several thousand feet.

    I have been on the Cairngorm plateau and it is a quite incredible place to be, with alpine plants, ptarmigan and Arctic tundra. I cannot get over my anger and fury over what has gone on. I don't know what to say or do right now but I am really angry.

    The letter;

    https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/news...tract/0018767/

    I volunteer with a Lowland Search and Rescue team. We get called out at least once a week and we search for despondents, Alzheimers patients etc. What is going on with mountain rescue right now winds me up in a way that I can't get over to you. But what can I do?

    #2
    Vote Labour?

    Comment


      #3
      Yes, that does sound crappy and, yes, it is consistent with a pattern that has occurred in pretty much any outsourced former public service that you might care to name.

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        #4
        I read a lot of negative stories coming from various MRT at the moment. The whole organisation seems to be struggling with an increase in people out in the hills that have skills well below what's expected.

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          #5
          Similar phenomenon in the US for several years now.

          Potentially deadly combination of funding cuts and lots of commercially-driven material (car and beer adverts to Instagram) that minimises/ignores risks and the need for expertise and preparation

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            #6
            I volunteer with Lowland Search and Rescue and on average we get two call-outs a week. A lot of the time the Police just don't have the resources to do anything themselves. The difference between us and mountain rescue is that with mountain rescue 90% of call outs are from people who want to be found, whereas 90% of ours do not want to be found. We're looking for despondents, suicidal people, dementia patients etc. Only about 1 in 10 of our searches finds someone and even then only 1 in 10 of those (so just 1% !!) want to be found. However, they're trialing tags for dementia patients which means they can be found if or when they go missing.

            As for the mountain areas, I was shocked last time I bought an ordnance survey map as it cost me £9. No wonder people are using phones to navigate by as to get maps covering the whole of the Lake District could set you back £50-60.

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              #7
              The price of maps is really not an issue considering the cost of outdoors gear and you only need 4 maps to cover the LD. Plus you get a free download to your phone nowadays.

              No, the issue is that it's all well to go on and on about the need for a map and a compass but if you can't read a map (be it on paper or on phone), they are just a waste of time. Most people can't be bothered to learn the intricacies. At some point the kind of stuff you have in the Alps (indicators, markers to follow, etc) will have to be considered, however much "proper hikers" do not like it.... When I visit the valley where my family is from, I barely need to get my mapping app out, the local guides rarely need to go and rescue someone lost...

              PS Navigation with a phone that has maps installed on it and a proper hiking app (egg Viewranger) is far superior to the paper map/compass combo, just ensure you have a battery pack.

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                #8
                Phone navigation is mostly great, but it's shit if you're in areas with too many mountains to your sides, or you're in canyons, and there's no (or weak) GPS signal.

                Although it appears that most people here get into trouble not through navigational fuck-ups but because they're overconfident and ill-equipped and go plonking off down trails in 100F heat with a 33cl bottle of water, no shade, poor footwear, and so on. Or try and take selfies from the edges of cliffs.

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                  #9
                  Never had gps issues meself.

                  A classic here is Snowdon in winter in trainers when the top is under snow and ice...very bad idea...

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