Walking Alone

In message <[email hidden]>

Roger said:

Also I was ferreting around in The Scottish Peaks looking for some
indication of Pouchers state of mind when I came across the 3 man rule
set out in full. "Essential for safety" in the Highlands according to
him. Poucher doesn't seem to have a sense of humour so I am sure he was
serious when he followed it up with the following gem - "To make sure of
rapid location, please wear red stockings".

I can't help wondering how many crags you'd fall over just following
his black and white lines over the Lake District.

--
Simon Challands

I recall the take 3 with thee rule... It went along with learning the
morse code for S O S more threes... and the poison ivy leaves of 3 let
it be. . .

If I only went in 3s most of my trips would not BE.

trek safely solo ? a new one?
www.mytrekkingpoles.com

On Thu, 6 Oct 2005 22:14:53 +0100, Roger <[email hidden]> wrote:

| The sad news today that the body an as yet unnamed 57 year old walker
| had now been found 11 days after he went missing in the Cuillins is a
| reminder of the dangers of solo walking.

So walking has dangers, and solo walking slightly higher risks.
We kill 10 people per day in road accidents, and a few people a year, even
allowing for the population at risk, walking alone on hills will be safer
than spending the same time on the roads.

I almost killed myself a few times, while walking alone, when I was
younger, but I never even concidered taking a companion.
--
Dave Fawthrop <dave hyphenologist co uk>
The London suicide bombers killed innocent commuters.
Animal rights terrorists and activists kill innocent patients.

Roger said:

The sad news today that the body an as yet unnamed 57 year old walker
had now been found 11 days after he went missing in the Cuillins is a
reminder of the dangers of solo walking.

Though to what extent they are dangers of solo walking and to what
extent they are problems finding bodies does get slightly mixed. Our
University club had a solo walking ban imposed by the University Court
after someone died walking alone. Since he appeared to have fallen 500'
off Beinn Alligin I don't really see that having someone with him would
necessarily have helped him survive, though searching for the body would
have been quicker (and that would have been useful to many people).

Quoted message said:

Also I was ferreting around in The Scottish Peaks looking for some
indication of Pouchers state of mind when I came across the 3 man rule
set out in full. "Essential for safety" in the Highlands according to
him.

Over in rec.ski.backcountry there's been a more or less parallel
discussion along these lines about avalanche safety and use of
transceivers. And there the bottom line is if you want to be safe
/above all else/, then don't go into snowy mountains! There is clearly
a level of risk you are choosing to impose on yourself and it is higher
than "as safe as possible", and so too with walking, whether you do it
alone or in groups, with or without a mobile 'phone, GPS, etc. etc.
In Langmuir's Mountaincraft and Leadership there are notes of the safety
aspect but a conclusion that dismissing it as irresponsible is "a narrow
view" in light of there being more to mountaineering than maximising safety.

I do get bugged by people using words like "Essential". One of the few
genuinely essential things for the hillwalker is an oxygen supply, but
when Messner bagged Everset on his own (returning safely) he was cutting
even that one a bit thin...

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

"Dave Fawthrop" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On Thu, 6 Oct 2005 22:14:53 +0100, Roger <[email hidden]>
wrote:

| The sad news today that the body an as yet unnamed 57 year old walker
| had now been found 11 days after he went missing in the Cuillins is a
| reminder of the dangers of solo walking.

So walking has dangers, and solo walking slightly higher risks.
We kill 10 people per day in road accidents, and a few people a year, even
allowing for the population at risk, walking alone on hills will be safer
than spending the same time on the roads.

I almost killed myself a few times, while walking alone, when I was
younger, but I never even concidered taking a companion.
--
Dave Fawthrop <dave hyphenologist co uk>
The London suicide bombers killed innocent commuters.
Animal rights terrorists and activists kill innocent patients.

Dave, I agree wholeheartedly with your sentiments. I am nearly sixty and
have been walking/climbing since I was about five. Apart from the first
fifteen years or so when I went with my parents I have probably spent more
time on the hills "solo" than accompanied. It is a calculated risk and as
long as one is sensible about it then I see no problem. Certainly nowadays,
with mobile 'phones(emergency use ONLY) one should not feel that one MUST be
accompanied. Our lives are far too sanitized and protected nowadays and I
get really p****d off with people who try to pontificate to me when I
mention that I frequently walk solo.

"Roger" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
..Poucher doesn't seem to have a sense of humour so I am sure he was

Quoted message said:

serious when he followed it up with the following gem - "To make sure of
rapid location, please wear red stockings".

Hold-ups or suspenders?

Michael Hobby <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

Dave, I agree wholeheartedly with your sentiments. I am nearly sixty and
have been walking/climbing since I was about five. Apart from the first
fifteen years or so when I went with my parents I have probably spent more
time on the hills "solo" than accompanied. It is a calculated risk and as
long as one is sensible about it then I see no problem. Certainly nowadays,
with mobile 'phones(emergency use ONLY) one should not feel that one MUST be
accompanied. Our lives are far too sanitized and protected nowadays and I
get really p****d off with people who try to pontificate to me when I
mention that I frequently walk solo.

I leave everyone to choose whether they walk alone or in company, and of
course some never find a suitable companion to walk with anyway, or are
'loners' by nature.
I consider myself fortunate to have found several people who I found
easy to walk with, well matched physically and mentally, and who thus
considerably enhanced my enjoyment of walking.

Almost any human activity is better with agreeable company, IMHO.
I have never really enjoyed walking in groups of more than four,
however.
--
Gordon Harris

The message <[email hidden]>
from "Bernard" <[email hidden]> contains these words:

Quoted message said:

..Poucher doesn't seem to have a sense of humour so I am sure he was

Quoted message said:

serious when he followed it up with the following gem - "To make sure of
rapid location, please wear red stockings".

Quoted message said:

Hold-ups or suspenders?

Sorry, he wasn't recommending cross dressing. Stockings in this case is
the technically correct term for knee length socks.

--
Roger Chapman so far this year 53 summits
New - 27 (Marilyns 13, Nuttalls 5, Outlying Fells 10)
Repeats - 26 (Marilyns 10, Nuttalls 17, Wainwrights 12, Outlying Fells 0)

On Thu, 6 Oct 2005 22:14:53 +0100, Roger <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

For some reason (am I in too many killfiles?) this message provoked not
one response

I imagine everyone just assumed you were being sarcastic. I certainly
did ;-)

--
Oppose ID cards and the database state - sign the pledge at
http://www.pledgebank.com/refuse

"Mark Manning" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I've since done many weeks of walking in the hills, almost
always alone.
Yes, there are risks; but then there are benefits. As Langmuir
(already
quoted in this thread) says, the need to get away from everyone else
is
a powerful need for all of us from time to time; and where better to
do it
than in the hills?

Indeed. Most of my best mountain days have been solo, thgere's been a
few with just one congenial companion. Played hookey on Wednesday -
Snowdon Horseshoe via Crib Goch North ridge. I passed a couple of very
large painfully slow parties on Crib Goch, usual crowd on Snowdon
summit but apart from that it was mostly just me and the Ravens.
Superb weather, one of those soft early autumn days with hazy views of
distant peaks and the coast. Spent a long time sitting alone in the
late afternoon sun on Y Llwiedd's west peak. This is what mountain
days in heaven will be like.

--
Rod

My real address is rodtheweedygardeneratmyweedyisp
Just remove the weedy bits
and transplant the appropriate symbol at.

On Fri, 7 Oct 2005 14:04:55 +0100, Gordon <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Almost any human activity is better with agreeable company, IMHO.

Certainly. If solitude is your thing, you'll still find it with the
right companion - it's all a state of mind. There would have to be
something amiss with someone who resented, on a lonely moor or summit,
the presence of their beloved.
Some of them do need training, though, to keep quiet at important
moments.
--

Paul Rooney

On Thu, 6 Oct 2005 22:14:53 +0100, Roger <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

When I was
young it was the received wisdom that walkers should not venture out in
parties of less than 3 so that in an emergency one could stay with the
casualty and one could go for help.

Same here, but similar advice was the norm concerning walking alone at
night in the city centre. I think it all has to do with confidence.
Lone walkers are quite a frequent sight on the hills, but I wouldn't
recommend walking alone anywhere to someone who was nervous about it.
There have been a few cases that I know of, however, where experienced
walkers have died because they had an accident and no-one was there to
help.
Still, you could drive off the road in the fens, for example, and not
be found for days.
--

Paul Rooney

"Paul Rooney" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On Thu, 6 Oct 2005 22:14:53 +0100, Roger <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

When I was
young it was the received wisdom that walkers should not venture out in
parties of less than 3 so that in an emergency one could stay with the
casualty and one could go for help.

Same here, but similar advice was the norm concerning walking alone at
night in the city centre. I think it all has to do with confidence.
Lone walkers are quite a frequent sight on the hills, but I wouldn't
recommend walking alone anywhere to someone who was nervous about it.
There have been a few cases that I know of, however, where experienced
walkers have died because they had an accident and no-one was there to
help.
Still, you could drive off the road in the fens, for example, and not
be found for days.
--

Paul Rooney

I think that people are too easily scared nowadays. When I slept under the
stars in the Pyrenees earlier this year it was one of the most wonderful
experiences imaginable and yet when I told people about some said "Weren't
you frightened?" Frightened of what for goodness sake?

On Thu, 6 Oct 2005 22:14:53 +0100, Roger <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Taken from the Barefoot thread

Quoted message said:

The message <[email hidden]>
from Dewi <[email hidden]> contains these words:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

>I am beginning to think that Dewi wouldn't dare go out without his nanny
>in close attendance. :-)

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

No nanny with me on the Roman Steps today, (Compass in pack).

Quoted message said:

SHOCK, HORROR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Quoted message said:

Walking alone, and on the rough, tough Rhinogs, now that is dangerous.
The number of solo walkers that have have died for their sins is
considerable (well dozens anyway). No sir (or madam) you wouldn't catch
me doing that, not in a month of Sundays. :-)

Best ignored, but I'll bite,

Walking is what you do when you dont have a partner to climb with.

If I ccould only walk with others in Nannyland, then I would probably
be in more danger of cabin fever and throwing myself out of the window
(4th floor flat)

How is it reall that more dangerous? Think about it very carefully.

Seriously, I thought we left [censored] like that back in the days of lines
of cairns and flourescent cags. Hey guess where I will be in 50
years time?

Noone has had a go at me on this score since about 1983 when some
balloon on Carnedd Llewellyn tried it. He was leading a party of 15 in
a whiteout... Who do you think was the safest person up there that
day? I wound him up by truthfully saying it was my first time on a
winter hill in Wales, but nothing about 50 odd days out in Scotland.
Froze my butt off waiting for him and his entourage to bog off and
leave me to make my bearings and finish my bagging.

Richard Webb

Peter Clinch said:

Roger said:

The sad news today that the body an as yet unnamed 57 year old walker
had now been found 11 days after he went missing in the Cuillins is a
reminder of the dangers of solo walking.

Though to what extent they are dangers of solo walking and to what
extent they are problems finding bodies does get slightly mixed. Our
University club had a solo walking ban imposed by the University Court
after someone died walking alone. Since he appeared to have fallen 500'
off Beinn Alligin I don't really see that having someone with him would
necessarily have helped him survive, though searching for the body would
have been quicker (and that would have been useful to many people).

Possibly there would have been two casualties....

Fortunately when I was a member of a University club last year, I was
in no way nannied.

Richard Webb

The message <[email hidden]>
from Simon Caldwell <[email hidden]> contains these words:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

For some reason (am I in too many killfiles?) this message provoked not
one response

Quoted message said:

I imagine everyone just assumed you were being sarcastic. I certainly
did ;-)

Irony is wasted on usenet. :-)

--
Roger Chapman so far this year 53 summits
New - 27 (Marilyns 13, Nuttalls 5, Outlying Fells 10)
Repeats - 26 (Marilyns 10, Nuttalls 17, Wainwrights 12, Outlying Fells 0)

Paul Rooney <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

On Fri, 7 Oct 2005 14:04:55 +0100, Gordon <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Almost any human activity is better with agreeable company, IMHO.

Certainly. If solitude is your thing, you'll still find it with the
right companion - it's all a state of mind. There would have to be
something amiss with someone who resented, on a lonely moor or summit,
the presence of their beloved.
Some of them do need training, though, to keep quiet at important
moments.

:-)
--
Gordon Harris

"Roger" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

snip

Quoted message said:

Also I was ferreting around in The Scottish Peaks looking for some
indication of Pouchers state of mind when I came across the 3 man rule
set out in full. "Essential for safety" in the Highlands according to
him. Poucher doesn't seem to have a sense of humour so I am sure he was
serious when he followed it up with the following gem - "To make sure of
rapid location, please wear red stockings".

Poucher has a wonderful sense of humour. If you read his description of the
descent of An Casteal heading towards Bruach na Frithe he includes the word
*scramble*. Hanging on grimly to the mandatory vertical drop I was laughing
my (red) socks off!!

Graham

On 7/10/05 21:20, in article [email hidden], "Michael

Hobby said:

I think that people are too easily scared nowadays. When I slept under the
stars in the Pyrenees earlier this year it was one of the most wonderful
experiences imaginable and yet when I told people about some said "Weren't
you frightened?" Frightened of what for goodness sake?

Something like this is almost always more frightening to think about. When
you are there, in the mountains or the hills, everything just seems natural!

--
Andy Howell
Birmingham, UK

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