Perhaps holiday cottages/hotels/campsites should provide a user friendly guide to hillwalking as essential reading (as above) which includes recommendations and reasons for investing in appropriate footwear as opposed to any old trainers, such as ones with purpose soles, like Vibram or similarly boots, waterproof clothing, maps, head torches, poles for stability and a quick guide on to how to plan a route, use a compass, suitable food and drink for long mountain days etc. Might benefit the local outdoor stores too! I really don't think people who go into the hills on a whim with minimal rough path experience or preparation, like checking weather forecasts, truly understand how easily slips can happen with real potential for dangerous consequences. I speak from experience of having to use an ice axe to halt a dangerous slide down a snow-packed gully when least expecting it as well as numerous slips and banged knees when putting a foot unthinkingly on a slippery stone. Ouch.

Hopefully this will pass. We just have to live through it alas. No user friendly guide is going to turn novices and newbies into skilled hill walkers overnight. More people out walking safely and responsibly and respecting and contributing to the nearby economy is a good thing. For now though it is just an aspiration, a hope. It will take time and effort to persuade all these folk new to the hills to learn how to be safe, what gear to buy and so forth. Meanwhile as they climb the learning curve we need to be tolerant, remember we too once had no idea. Discouraging them and chasing them away isn't the best answer.

Plus thoughts to Mountain Rescue, your work is appreciated by those of us who hope we will never need you but are all too aware how that unforseen slip, broken ankle, could happen. Thanks.

Hopefully this will pass. We just have to live through it alas. No user friendly guide is going to turn novices and newbies into skilled hill walkers overnight. More people out walking safely and responsibly and respecting and contributing to the nearby economy is a good thing. For now though it is just an aspiration, a hope. It will take time and effort to persuade all these folk new to the hills to learn how to be safe, what gear to buy and so forth. Meanwhile as they climb the learning curve we need to be tolerant, remember we too once had no idea. Discouraging them and chasing them away isn't the best answer.

Plus thoughts to Mountain Rescue, your work is appreciated biy those of us who hope we will never need you but are all too aware how that unforseen slip, broken ankle, could happen. Thanks.

The 'volunteer' Rescue Team job is now much harder because of greater numbers finding their way to the hills (though often not back again) 'encouraged' in part, over the past couple of decades, by Government, its various Agencies and supported organisations.

Whatever argument or justification used, people are being 'encouraged' to venture into hazardous mountain environments and the unintended consequences of that 'encouragement' appear to have been given little consideration.

—How many of these wonderful people referred to as ‘staycationers’ have even heard of Grough. ??

We all know and love and respect you, but maybe a bit more publicity about yourselves would help.

We have an Airbnb cottage in Setmurthy and happily meet all our guests and sound them out good and proper —They are always, always keen and appreciate some guidance. They are delightful people with differing aims as to how to spend their time.

Depending on ground conditions all are happy following our advice.
Of course many are experts and we being keen fell walkers ourselves learn much from them also.

BIG,BIG Ahhhh’s for the Daisy rescue ... and thankyou for your pages .

Christina Goode
Cockermouth

I think the comments above suggest that education about the risks of venturing into the hills and the purpose of the mountain rescue service is seriously lacking. The number of unnecessary call-outs is alarming since these unselfish rescuers will turn out to a subsequent emergency while not at their best, thereby posing greater danger to themselves and exacerbating the emergency situation.

Are rescue teams perceived as a default 'get me out of here' solution when individuals realise they have bitten off more than they can chew up on those mountain paths? If those circumstances can be proved in a call-out then I think a charge is truly justified. Imagine if you booked a taxi and told the driver you wanted him to take you home but didn't expect to pay. Expletives deleted.

Again, thought provoked by the comments above. The people who visit the Lakes for a one-off week frequently have a to-do list which includes Beatrix Potter, a ferry trip, Wordsworth's cottage, a day in retail hubs like Ambleside and Keswick - and to climb Scafell Pike because it's the thing to do. Few will consider researching the nature of this walk. Earlier this winter I encountered a group of Japanese tourists slipping and sliding down one of the Helvellyn paths, which had a covering of snow over icy patches, in summer trainers, thin ponchos for protection against deteriorating conditions and carrying umbrellas for protection against the rain. A fall could have easily broken bones, although unlikely on that particular path to cause anything more life threatening. The point is, they had clearly done little, if any, research into their intended destination other than to ask the hotel owner where to go to start. A concern for me is a pervasive lack of understanding in those who have no aspirations to be hill-walkers but are compelled by the perception of an essential experience.

I agree wholly, that we all had to start somewhere. – And inexperienced / ill-equipped people can easily get caught out by lack of foresight and rapidly changing weather conditions.
But is getting lost / wet on the fells (in summer) really a life threatening situation that would, as a matter of course, necessitate calling out a Mountain Rescue Team?

I started fell-walking long before the era of mobile phones, and in those days you had no option – you got yourself back down to the valley!
If the heavens opened and you didn’t have suitable weatherproof clothing, you got very wet and very cold – but you still got yourself back down to the valley!
If you didn’t have a map and a compass, you still got yourself back down to the valley! – (Even if you ended up in the wrong valley!).
In the case of some sort of genuinely debilitating accident, you either sent one of your party down to phone for emergency services – or, if you were walking solo, you relied on your whistle – and hoped that someone might hear your distress signal.

Nowadays, M.R.T.'s, local shops and accommodation providers, tourist information centres, outdoor gear shops, and all manner of online sources provide common sense guides /videos and the like for the would be fell-walker.
Until recently, television programs advocating the joys of fell-walking had been woefully inadequate in giving safety advice, but to their credit, recent TV programs I've seen have all given good down to earth advice on what can go wrong, and what the would be walker needs to take into consideration.

So, in reality, what more can actually be done to get the message across to the type of person who initiates these "avoidable call-outs"?
The main problem is the fact that this sort of person doesn't realise the fells can be dangerous, and they won't have looked at websites such as this. – In all probability, they won't have looked for any advice that might be available, no matter what the source.

I count myself lucky that in a lifetime of Lakeland fell-walking, I've never needed to call upon M.R.T. services. – And yes, when I started out, I too didn't have all the "right gear". I will admit that in those early days, (before I had funds to buy the requisite equipment and clothing, and before I learned how to use map & compass), I occasionally got lost, and I occasionally got very wet indeed! – but come what may, as long as I could put one foot in front of the other, I always got myself back down to valley level under my own steam.

Far too many people these days treat M.R.T.s as some sort of "get out of jail free card". It is all too easy to reach for the mobile phone. When in truth, and with a little bit of thought before dialling 999, the vast majority of these folk could, without too much difficulty, (even if they eventually ended up in the wrong valley as I did a couple of times when I first started out all those years ago!), get themselves safely back down to valley level under their own steam!

Another reason people go onto the fells is the many TV programs on walking. It all looks safe and easy on screen ie Julia Bradbury walking documentary’s. But in real life it’s not like that. Especially when it’s been risk assessed and there is a large enter

Education is definitely the way forward and yes we all had epics and a learning curve. The big question is how to best get the message across to new/casual users of the outdoors.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of the public who occasionally venture into the great outdoors have no awareness of or interest in Grough or other similar websites or outdoor publications.
Within the outdoor fraternity there is understandable resistance to introducing "big brother" or nanny state controls such as signage at the start of popular trails or compulsory insurance etc. So this debate which has rolled on for years will no doubt continue to do so.
Thankfully there are committed and compassionate individuals willing to join MRT's
But, whilst raising the public's awareness is laudable, consider that when the inexperienced hillgoer's see all the recent effort put into the rescue of a dog by Wasdale MRT and the attendant national/mainstream media coverage, can they really be blamed for thinking "Well they will obviously go to all that trouble for a dog why not call them out if your struggling" ?

It used to be called 'being self reliant' with a variety of hill skills to call on; nor did it involve the local rescue team.

Being able to use a mobile phone is not one of those hill skills.

As said earlier, people are being 'encouraged' to venture into hazardous mountain environments and the unintended consequences (described in other posts) of that 'encouragement' appear to have been given little consideration.

Education is also required for dog owners regarding the implications for their dog's wellbeing and safety if it is expected to undergo a strenuous day of exercise on rough ground, which can be harmful to soft paw pads not accustomed to the terrain. All credit to the MRT who do go to extreme lengths to rescue any one they can in need. They are victims of their own success in many ways. Media attention, however, as stated is not helpful if it presents an image of a hybrid mountain rescue service at the beck and call of a public which genuinely does not understand its role.

I personally would not want to see signposts in the fells as they are also likely to induce a false sense of security. Not much help when the mist descends. Education which instils basic knowledge and awareness before shutting the front door seems to me to be at least a step forward.