How not to die when Rambling

Post Reply New Topic

I wanted to post this as its like the worst orienteering tragedy I've heard about in a while, despite the other natural earthquakes, and no, this wasn't a hostage situation and yes it was a tragedy.
I personally love the rolling hills of Wales, but hiking through the foothills of them, is another matter.

Anyway, this person relied on a smartphone app to navigate their way down to a foothill or ridge, and there wasn't one, so they were completely off the pass, I never understand people who need to prove their hiking skills are a good omen, when in fact they are risking their lives, and in this case, certain death.


The inquest heard that Mrs Wilson, of St Alban’s Avenue in Heaton Chapel, Stockport, was a fit and active woman and she and her husband had been mountain walking and scrambling for six years. She had run in the New York Marathon and Great North Run.


Detective Constable Tim Bird, the leader of the rescue team, told the inquest that Mrs Wilson, had apparently fallen 20-30 feet down a vertical cliff, then tumbled about 150 metres down into an area known as Notch arrete.

He said that although the weather was dry, the light boots worn by Mrs Wilson were not suitable for such rough terrain and she could have slipped.

Mr Wilson was eventually led to safety by members of the Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Team who found his wife’s body over 150 metres lower down.

She had fractured her skull and sustained several other severe injuries.




Realising his wife had fallen and that, with limited first-aid knowledge he was unlikely to be able to help her, he climbed to a safer ledge and raised the alarm.

“I didn’t go down in case I was also injured or killed,” he said.

He said that there would not have been as much detail on the smartphone app as on a normal map.

After abseiling two days later down to the spot where her body was found he himself was hit by falling rocks.


DC Bird told the hearing: “The change in route was an attempt to traverse the west face to avoid the summit. It would have been better to have retreated the way they had come or gone to the North Ridge, but unfortunately they probably saw a footpath and joined up the dots.”


The coroner recorded a conclusion of Accidental Death.

This is tragic.

The welsh hills can certainly be unforgiving for a number of reasons, weather, terrain, remoteness etc.

SAS and other soldiers can die up there during training it is certainly not for ammeters.

Yes, it is a tragedy beyond most tragedies I've heard or witnessed in a long time.. anything related to mountain rescue operations and such always get me, as I always wonder if they made it or not, and often end up imagining the worst.
If anyone has seen Cliff-hanger, it's roughly like that, I mean Stallone did his own stunts and everything, but these innocent people, well, are completely unskilled in some untapped territory, outside of their terrain, roughing it.
Wales is a naturally rugged place, with many pitfalls into mines and such.

I have been up mountains in Austria, I've cycled long distances since I was 12 and 13, which I still find I can still do,
and I wouldn't dream of going near a sign that says Danger! Don't pass! or the like. I tend to heed the warnings, but you still get the odd few, whether its tomb stoning, abseiling off of eroding cliffs, etc.
I have a cousin who is keen to be a Mountain or Cave rescue worker.. he probably trains in the Alps.