Clueless hillwalkers saved...but rescuers make them fork out £200 for taxi home
MOUNTAIN rescuers are routinely prepared to put their lives at risk to help those lost in dangerous wilderness areas.
But after a perilous operation to save two hopelessly ill-equipped walkers – who had set off to scale the UK’s second highest peak using a phone app – they decided to teach the pair an expensive lesson.
Instead of giving the men the customary lift back to their car, rescuers made them take a taxi ride, costing around £200.
The unnamed Glasgow pair – one in his 50s and the other in his 30s – became lost as they attempted to climb 4,294ft Ben Macdui, Invernessshire, on Tuesday.
Without a map or compass, they became lost in mist and darkness as winds gusted at up to 100mph.
Some 30 members of Cairngorm, Braemar and Aberdeen mountain rescue teams began their search at 4.30pm. The Braemar team located the men more than six hours later, around 11pm.
The walkers ended up having to phone a cab to take them the 64 miles from Braemar Mountain Rescue base in Ballater, Aberdeenshire, back to the Aviemore Ski Centre, where their car was parked.
A mountain rescue team source said: ‘After such a long time on the hill looking for these two, the rescuers were in no mood to give them a lift.’
Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team leader Willie Anderson said the £200 fare was ‘an expensive lesson in being unprepared’. He added that it was the third rescue in as many weeks involving ill-equipped walkers.
He said: ‘They did not have a map, a compass, a head-torch, only one had a back pack – they did not have a scoobie. It doesn’t appear they have climbed a mountain before.
‘They were very lucky – the winds were horrendous. We were on the verge of coming off the hill. They were completely and utterly unprepared.’
He said police were able to make contact with the walkers ‘intermittently’ on their mobile phone.
Braemar MRT found the pair close to Linn of Dee in Aberdeenshire.
Mr Anderson said: ‘Our guys were out in winds of 70mph to plus 90mph, and there were earlier winds of 100mph.
‘The Cairngorms is known for getting big winds. We were lucky last night that there was no snow with it. We had 18 people out and Braemar had 15 – it was some search. This pair turned back on the mountain but started heading south again in the dark – and with no torch. They even saw the lights of Braemar MRT vehicles but managed to bypass them.
‘When they were rescued and back at Braemar’s base they had to get a taxi to their car – which would have cost them about £200, I would think.
‘That was an expensive lesson in being unprepared. They did not have a clue – they should not have been on the mountain, especially in those conditions.
‘You can warn people all the time about having the right equipment such as a compass and a map etc, but I still don’t understand why so many just end up like these two.’
On September 30, two badly equipped and ‘very lucky’ walkers wearing gym gear were saved in the Cairngorms after rescuers battled heavy snow showers.
Four days earlier two lost walkers, navigating by a dying mobile phone and without a torch or compass, were found after a night-time operation in poor weather on the Cairngorm Plateau.
The man and woman in their 20s had been returning from Ben Macdui.
A spokesman for Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team said: ‘Before the inevitable debate kicks off about preparedness, we just want to say that we don’t mind rescuing people, we don’t judge and we appreciate that some people don’t realise what they are undertaking.
‘But we have recently rescued a series of people whose luck has held remarkably. Winter is now here and relying on luck to survive the plateau may not end up in a good result.’