Originally Posted by
Trim Stab
Your regular quoting of the Daily Record article also demonstrates why there is at present a huge uprising within UK mountaineering circles against the way in which the press are reporting these incidents. The press as ever have written complete drivel on the subject and none of it can be used to determine the cause of this incident, nor the experience levels of those involved.
The Daily Record article did not criticise the climbers at all, nor did it criticise their experience, nor did it criticise the equipment that they were carrying or not carrying, nor did it include any drivel. I thought it was a factual report, quoting well informed and eye-witness sources.
It was me who asked if the RAFMA party were carrying AVDs and whether they were trained in their use. I expect that the inquest will ask the same questions. The MOD has a legal and moral obligation to minimise unreasonable risk when providing adventure training (remember Trevor Jones?) and I expect that lessons will be learnt here. AVDs really should be obligatory on MOD winter mountain adventure training, just as lifejackets are obligatory on MOD kayaking adventure training, or helmets on MOD climbing adventure training.
Given the reported snow conditions at the time - "like liquid concrete" - it is unlikely that the victims would have survived in this particular accident even if the other members of the party were properly equipped and trained with DVAs, probes and shovels. However, I hope that this will lead to a change in SOPs. The next MOD avalanche victims may be caught in the sort of avalanche which is survivable - as long as other members of the party are equipped and trained to carry out an immediate rescue.
If the individuals were on a RAFMA meet they were not undertaking adventurous training. Whereas mountaineering, and other activities, is used as a means of meeting the objectives of adventurous training, not all mountaineering is adventurous training.
RAFMA is a sports club under the RAF Sports Board. Like the vast majority of other mountaineering and climbing clubs in England and Wales, it is affiliated to the British Mountaineering Council. It follows the BMC's guidance.