If You Believe ‘The Outdoors Should Be Accessible To Everyone’, Then This Is The Result

When Neil Barrow first volunteered with mountain rescue 40 years ago, for weeks on end the Lake District fells would be capped with snow. Winters with the Patterdale mountain rescue team, of which he is now deputy leader, would involve big and complicated rescues, during which he would bring down the experienced hikers who had become injured or ill tackling the national park’s famous peaks in snow and ice. But thanks to climate change, the Lake District is no longer a winter destination for experienced mountaineers, and instead their rescues often involve ill-prepared novices who are chasing the sunsets and vistas that they have seen on Instagram and TikTok.

Ah, the new generation!  

David Gracie, a volunteer of nine years and one of the team’s other deputies, said many of the callouts involved groups of younger people who, pre-pandemic, may not have thought to visit the Lakes.

I don't thing the last four words were all that necessary, David. 

“I guess people can see on the phones and through social media, there’s more stuff going on, and I think they’re keener to get out and go and see and explore, which is great,” he said. However, issues arise when walkers are underprepared or overestimate their ability to tackle some of the more challenging hikes. Often inexperienced hikers will set off too late. One group took the train all the way from Brighton before setting out on a climb the same day, and ended up calling for help in the early hours of the next morning. Their most recent rescue, Farley said, involved two girls who had been using a navigation app on their phone, and called for help from Striding Edge. “We went up and they said they’d seen something on TikTok, and they wanted to go up to the top of Helvellyn, and they didn’t quite make it to the top,” he said. “They got a bit stuck, and then got really scared, and then they called for help. I guess that’s a little bit more typical now.”

Welcome to the modern world. It must be tiring enough to have to go rescue someone experienced who has been caught out by a sudden change in weather, but to have to rescue some braineless 'influencer' intent on getting more clicks must be utterly infuriating. I don't know how they do it.

Especially since they do it for nothing... 

All of this means the team’s workload has almost doubled – they previously averaged somewhere between 60 and 65 jobs a year. “It’s got more time-consuming, without a doubt,” Barrow said. The intensity is taking its toll. They are unpaid volunteers, with jobs, and many with young families as well. The fear, Farley said, was “if the numbers continue to rise, I don’t know whether it is sustainable in the long run.”

It isn't. And could there be a greater contrast between rescuers and rescued?