Other members may be interested to see the following which
is the text of a letter I have written to the Department of
Education.
I would welcome any comments you may wish to make, as long
as they're not too rude!
"On Saturday 13th March, whilst walking in Snowdonia, I
noticed a large number of youngsters – predominantly girls –
following the same mountain path as myself. There were, I
believe, about twelve to fifteen teenagers with about three
or four young adults “leading” them. The fact that I had
seen them getting out of two mini buses adorned with the
name of a school led me to believe they were a school party.
Unfortunately I did not think to make a note of the name of
the school but I believe it may have been somewhere in the
Midlands – possibly Mansfield.
The mountain weather conditions on Saturday could, at best,
be described as “wintry” and were consistent with the
forecasts. From about 1200 feet there were increasingly
large patches of snow and ice and at 2000 feet I estimated
that the wind was gusting at up to 30 mph. There were
frequent showers of snow, sleet and hail.
I became concerned when I noticed that no members of the
party appeared to be adequately equipped for walking in such
conditions and have to say that their clothing appeared only
at best suitable for adverse summer conditions. Nobody
appeared to be carrying ice axes – an essential item in
winter – let alone trekking poles and some appeared not to
have gloves. At one point four teenagers became separated –
although not at that time dangerously so – from the main
party whilst they were cavorting in the snow.
Making light conversation with one of the adults, I was
given to understand that they were intending to ascend
Glyder Fach and Glyder Fawr, both of which are in excess of
3000 feet. Although my intended route did not take me in the
same direction I could see that conditions on the summits
were worse with much more snow, presumably more ice and the
added problem of cloud cover.
I have, myself, taken many groups of young people into the
hills and I would be that last person to want to discourage
such groups from discovering the enjoyment of hill walking
and mountaineering. However, in the light of some notable
tragedies in the past involving young people and their
“leaders” I believe, that as one who is experienced in this
field, I have a responsibility; without being intrusive;
towards ensuring that others act and conduct themselves with
equal responsibility.
As I mentioned earlier I was unable to identify the group
but I am writing to you to bring these circumstances to
light in the hope that, in doing so, this information can be
passed on and, hopefully, another tragedy averted."