FOLLOWING two named storms in the last ten days and two mountain rescue call-outs – one to a group up Ben Nevis in trainers and one on Sunday out in high winds in a clear Storm Dennis warning – is it time to end mountain rescue for hikers from, say, Nov 1 to April 1 each winter?
With folk now putting their faith in the god of iPhones and the right to be rescued from any situation at all, is it too late to return to common sense? Why should mountain rescue teams put their own lives at risk when storm warnings are available to everybody and their effects clear to us all?
READ MORE: Mountain rescue team grateful for support after Ben Nevis rescue
King Cnut, way back nearly 1,000 years ago, is not the historical figure now remembered as someone who thought he could turn back the tide. He took his chair out onto the beach to show fawning courtiers that he could not turn back the tide. We are no different, despite “modern development and progress”.
Anne Milligan
Ayr
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