Snowdon: Death Mountain?

I recently mentioned that Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team is at 99 incidents, apparently the truer figure is around 110 already, although this might include some that did require a response. However far more alarming than that is the death toll this year. To date Snowdon has claimed 10 lives this year, now on average we get up to five a year. So why is Snowdon becoming a killer mountain, as 1 in 10 rescues becomes a fatal incident?

From an local perspective, the very harsh winter condition contributed to many of the death around five in about two weeks when heavy froze and icy conditions caught many people unawares on what in summer is the ‘easy route’ but in winter is the worst accident black spot.

On top of this we have had the usual death from falls, but we have also had to contend with what seems from the inside to be a growing number of suicides and attempted suicides. Whether it is the recession that is driving people to take there lives I cannot say, as I am not party to nation statisitcs, there does seem to be a growing number of incidents where self harm is an issue.

I just hope we can get through the summer without to many more serious incidents however having just been up to Pen Y Pass there seems to be a steady trail of people some well equipped some not so making their way up the mountain. One thought I was being over ambitious taking my friends two year old 300 metres along the miners track in her summer dress, climbing over the rocks. I guess if they knew my background and the fact that I wasn’t going any further than that the eyebrow wouldn’t have been so raised.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *