Rural Community Gateway

The Scottish Mountaineering Incidents report looked at incidents which took place in the ten-year period between 1996 and 2005. The report was written by Dr Bob Sharp FRGS for sportscotland.

Mountain rescue teams deal with an average of 300 incidents a year, including 25 deaths and 180 injuries. Navigation is the most commonly cited cause of all incidents (23%) followed by bad planning (18%) and inadequate equipment (11%).

More findings

The report also found that men are at more risk than women, due possibly to higher participation in more risky activities and a greater tendency to take risks in situations.

A fifth of those involved in incidents are students, with the 21-30 age group being a higher risk group. Just over half of people rescued do not live in Scotland.

From 1996 to 2005, the number of hill walking incidents has increased, while the number of climbing incidents has decreased. The proportion of people injured has decreased, along with decreases in the number of people with medical problems, fatal, limb and multiple injuries. However, incidents where poor or absent items of equipment have been a contributory factor have increased.

Being prepared is crucial

Unfortunately, accidents on Scotland's mountains often make the headlines. On Saturday 18th August, a man died when he slipped and fell on Ben Alder in Inverness-shire.

Tim Walker, principal of sportscotland National Centre Glenmore Lodge, hopes this report will benefit the mountaineering community resulting in a decrease in incidents.

Commenting on the report findings he said, "Scotland is fortunate to have such tremendous natural resources which are enjoyed by so many and we welcome increasing numbers enjoying the great outdoors.

"However being properly prepared is crucial and all throughout our training sessions here at Glenmore Lodge we emphasis this as we strive to ensure that all visits to Scotland’s summits remain incident free.

"This research will help inform, influence and update the training provided by the mountaineering community and hopefully result in these figures continuing to decrease."

Key pointers

The report has provided some key pointers for those with responsibility for promoting safe practice and training mountain leaders. These are summarised as:

• Experience does not guarantee safety
• Hill walking is not without risks
• Slips are central to many incidents
• The majority of incidents where equipment is a contributory cause are avoidable
• There is a need to target safety messages to visitors ‘at source’
• Poor navigation leads to people becoming overdue, exhausted, lost, benighted and cragfast, sometimes with fatal consequences
• Preparation is fundamental

You can read more about these pointers in the Scottish Mountaineering Incidents digest on the sportscotland website.

• Privacy
• Help
• Contact Us
• Disclaimer