If people can't be bothered to equip themselves properly in enabling them to find their way up and down hills and fells why do they think others should have to go and rescue them. The rescue teams should be used for legitimate accidents and illnesses only. You wouldn't expect to call on the police force to accompany you across town because you don't know the area and they are paid not just volunteers. At some time soon this practice of rescuing idiots is going to have to stop as it encourages others to disregard the need for learning the skills needed in surviving outside

Do we just have the hills littered with corpses then ?

The teams are admirable. They rescue irrespective of fault and don't castigate or shame. I think we should follow their lead and not slate others. Just keep our support to donations. Hilary H.

First thing we might consider is for government and its many agencies, whatever the arguments or justification used, to stop 'encouraging' people to venture into hazardous mountain environments.

If individuals want to go to the hills they will discover them. The unintended consequences of 'encouragement' appear to have been given little consideration.

Paul, I think April makes some fair points. I'm not sure your OTT false argument helps discussion, in fact it kills it stone dead.
What is clear that attempting to provide an open ended resource to recover folk from the hills under all circumstances is unsustainable.
It is also clear that charity fatigue sets in at some point when the general public gets fed up/ insensitive to the apparent need to underwrite all Mountain Rescue activities, esp. when beneficiaries are the careless and irresponsible.

To describe the incident as "avoidable" is about as critical as the MRTs allow themselves to be. The rest of us know that he was probably a totally unprepared plonker.

They are indeed heroes rescuing all who are in need regardless of the cause.

April says the practice of rescuing idiots will have to stop , so if they don’t get rescued and it’s -5 3,000 foot up in the hills , well probably only one outcome isn’t there . It’s a tired old argument as your not going to stop people going out unprepared ,and people will always be available to get them to safety , it’s not an argument to me it’s just a fact

Most of the walkers rescued have motor rescue ie: AA/RAC/Green flag because they hate their precious cars being broken down and wanting to rescued as quickly as possible. But, disregard their own lives for wanting to be rescued for free!

So a walker can spend £300 on a jacket, £100 pants, £200 boots, £100 rucksack, £250 GPS, ...even £150 sunglasses, IPhone for £1000 etc. But most expect volunteers to drive away from their families for nothing but the duty to rescue someone.

The whole MRT was traditionally to help like minded and local communities. Now leisure is a global industry. Times have change, communications have changed. MRT will eventually change, they have too.

Paul, Rescuing 'idiots' for free will have to stop, it's not the same thing as stopping altogether, as you contend. Also in this particular instance on Ingleborough it wasn't '3000 ft' and it wasn't -5 C. To have a rational discussion and argument a sense of proportion needs to be retained along with respect for others so engaged.

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I think referring to casualties as "idots" is counterproductive.

What Ms Fairbairn really has to do is follow up her largely irrational comments and suggest a means by which Mountain Rescue Teams can establish whether potential “rescuees” are in fact idiots or not? Perhaps a telephone IQ test or an interrogation on the kit they’re carrying?? I think if she was to evaluate to stats on membership of MRTs she’d probably be surprised to find that there are no shortage of volunteers?
And yes, as Paul suggests, if people are eventually obliged to pay for rescues then the hills may well become the final resting place for scores of mountaineers and hillwalkers assuming that Police abandon what I assume is an implicit obligation to search for missing persons.

Maybe a few bleached bones here and there would engender some respect for the fells. It's often not just a matter of equipment, we have all see the "All the gear but no idea" crowd.

But if people are lost/benighted but are uninjured and have good gear, let them walk out or wait for moonrise/sunrise.

Yep Simon, I think Scottish MRT's do generally wait until the following day to mobilise searches for missing walkers - maybe not in winter in the Cairngorms though! And indeed I know for a fact that in the case of a chap who went missing in the NW Highlands last year the members of the local MRT kept searching for him in their own time for many weeks after he went missing. These guys are real heroes!
Beyond that I'm also aware that there are folk out there who specifically go out and search for bodies when it becomes apparent that the missing person is clearly dead! I guess this may be well intentioned but it seems a tad ghoulish to me!