Roger said:The message <[email hidden]>
from Fran <[email hidden]> contains these words:
Quoted message said:Quoted message said:It may be for a good cause? but their must be better and more
original way to raise funds for charity?
Of course there is. Stay at home and give the charity the money that
would otherwise have been wasted on the trip. Apart from all the other
objections I list below it is morally reprehensible in the extreme to
blackmail friends and acquaintances into supporting an exercise in
unnecessary conspicuous consumption. We all waste the finite resources
of this Earth but most of us do it in ways we like and I can't work out
which is worse: the idiot who undertakes the National 3 Peaks on the
mistaken assumption that they are doing good or the cynical con artist
who ventures further afield getting a cheap walking holiday at the
expense of family and friends and in doing so being a nice little earner
for the professional fund raiser who organised the trip.
Quoted message said:I suppose since I'm not a local in any of the affected areas I
should keep out of this - but here goes anyway... Is it
really such a problem? Consider the number of people per year
who do this challenge, compared with the number who trot along
Striding Edge to Helvellyn or bound up Snowdon on night hikes
to see the sunrise from the top. Should we all keep away from
everywhere on the grounds that wherever we put our feet we
will erode something? Should peak-baggers stop bagging peaks?
Should we all avoid the 'popular' paths? Sorry, I know I said
I should probably keep out of it because I know not of what I
speak - but I'm getting a bit tired of seeing people here
saying what a bad idea the challenge is when all along I
suspect that quite a few of the detractors have probably done
it themselves at least once, or if not then something similar.
My other objections are:
1. Most (perhaps all) who undertake the challenge these days cheat.
They neither start at the start nor go on to finish at the finish (feet
in the sea in both cases) and some don't even bother with the 24 hour
rule.
2. The challenge as originally devised was as much about fast cars and
driving as fell running and modern advances in both motor vehicles and
roads has devalued it to such an extent that it now doable as a coach
excursion by the average walker.
3. Almost all who attempt the challenge do so over a very brief period.
They descend in hordes on the limited parking spaces and (in the Lake
District particularly) clog the inadequate roads with convoys of
minibuses numbered in dozens if not in hundreds.
4. To the extent that most participants aren't actually out to enjoy
themselves they do cause unnecessary erosion of some of the most popular
paths in the country while curtailing the enjoyment of those who are
there for pleasure.
5. Finally (and perhaps most importantly) they make the lives of the
locals absolute hell with all their round the clock noise, litter and
obstruction.
I would like to add:
6. Most who the challenge are reasonably inexperienced in hill walking, coupled with the fact they are in a rush, and in the case the lakes, in the dark. accidents are not uncommon, which put a strain on local volunteer rescue teams who have better thinks to do.
7. Lastly and, I think most importantly, when we go to these places, we put something back to these local communities economies. in the form of paying for B&B or camping facilities, using local shops and cafés etc. This is not the case of the 3 peaks people.
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