Magnets in outdoor clothing can endanger walkers’ lives
HILLWALKERS have been warned of the dangers of magnets in outdoor clothing amid a spate of recent deaths in Scotland because they can interfere with navigation equipment.
Magnetic closures on gloves and jackets, and even mobile phone cases, are being marketed as the modern alternative to Velcro or poppers, but experts say they can cause problems by deflecting compass needles.
The body that represents Scotland’s climbers and hillwalkers warned mountaineers to avoid the clothing and called for “joined-up thinking … between outdoor clothing manufacturers and mountain users to avoid potentially life-threatening consequences”.
Five people have died in the Scottish mountains in the past three weeks and the country’s mountain rescue teams have carried out 14 operations since the weekend.
Three missing walkers have yet to be found, with at least two of them falling from cornices.
Mountaineering Scotland said there was evidence suggesting that magnets deflecting a compass needle may have been the cause of one recent mountain rescue call-out.
Heather Morning, the body’s mountain safety adviser, said: “We have reviewed the circumstances of a recent incident in the mountains east of Glenshee, which involved hundreds of hours of rescue personnel hours and police time.
“A group of walkers were caught in low cloud and headed east instead of west, becoming totally disorientated and ending miles away from a road.
“Fortunately no one was hurt – just pride dented – but it could have turned
‘Fortunately no one was hurt – just dented pride – but it could have turned out so much worse.’
out so much worse had mountain conditions been more severe. The reason for the error was the compass.
“It had been stored in a pocket next to a mobile phone in a case which had a magnetic closure on it and the magnet had reversed the polarity of the compass needle, so that the north arrow pointed south.”
The phenomenon of “reversed polarity” has been widely publicised in mountaineering circles and people are advised to keep their compasses well away from items including mobile phones and car keys, which have a magnetic field.