what advice would you give RMT unioin

[islaydarkblue]

Oh, you think hill walkers only walk up hills? What's the difference between a hill and a mountain anyway? Is Ben Nevis the only mountain in Scotland? If Ben Nevis is a mountain what's Ben Vrackie? A hump? A tiny sticky out bit? a rolling high land?

I suggest you research hills and hill walking. I can help with that research because you don't seem to be very good at researching.

On a more serious note, of course people get lost in the remote areas of Scotland - same as they do in the remote areas of any country. The weather turns very quickly in the mountains (sorry hills) and inexperienced or poorly prepared people can become disorientated. However part of the hobby is the planning and preparation; get that right and it's unlikley you'll get lost. I'm from the generation that can plan and prepare but then I know lots of people from 18 to 80 who do hill walking and can also plan and prepare - must all be from the same generation I guess.

When you reach the top of a hill in Scotland you get one of three things. You get wet because you're in cloud and can see nothing, you get fantastic views because there are no clouds or you get stunning views because you're above the clouds. The fact that there's another mountain to climb after that one is half the point. A bit like golf, you knock the ball into one hole with your stick then there's another hole for you to knock your ball into with your stick another 200 yards away - what fun.

People pay into the public purse so that services like SAR can be made available to them when they're needed so any argument that a helicopter is a considerable cost to the public purse is moot because without us, the public, there is no helicopter. I know plenty people who have needed air lifted out of the mountains due to bad luck and injury. Helicopters do sometimes help search for missing hill walkers but by the time the helicopter is required it's fair to assume the missing person or people have had an accident and are unable to find their own way home. That's what we pay into the public purse for - it's not called Search And Rescue for nothing is it?

In my opinion hill walkers should have to take out insurance before they go hill walking which would then pay for the cost of mobilising mountain rescue teams and helicopters if required should they get lost or have a fall.
That might stop some people being inadequately dressed and prepared for hill walking in Scotland.

[Deeranged]

In my opinion hill walkers should have to take out insurance before they go hill walking which would then pay for the cost of mobilising mountain rescue teams and helicopters if required should they get lost or have a fall.
That might stop some people being inadequately dressed and prepared for hill walking in Scotland.

Once again your lack of knowledge and inability to properly research comes to the fore and shows you up.

Mountain Rescue teams are volunteers, funded by donation from people like me who value the service. I do actually have hill walking insurance but it doesn't cover helocopter call outs as these are free, provided by a publicly funded emergency service - the Coastguard.

Let's take your theory to the extreme and make people take out insurance for ambulance, fire service or police call outs. That might stop people phoning them when they need an ambulance because they've fallen and broken their leg or they need the fire service because their house is on fire or because they need the police to search for their lost children or elderly relative with Alzheimers who has wandered off.

Try thinking, reading and then forming an opinion; it's so much better than forming the opinion then arguing it's right when it very clearly isn't.

[BCram]

Once again your lack of knowledge and inability to properly research comes to the fore and shows you up.

Mountain Rescue teams are volunteers, funded by donation from people like me who value the service. I do actually have hill walking insurance but it doesn't cover helocopter call outs as these are free, provided by a publicly funded emergency service - the Coastguard.

Let's take your theory to the extreme and make people take out insurance for ambulance, fire service or police call outs. That might stop people phoning them when they need an ambulance because they've fallen and broken their leg or they need the fire service because their house is on fire or because they need the police to search for their lost children or elderly relative with Alzheimers who has wandered off.

Try thinking, reading and then forming an opinion; it's so much better than forming the opinion then arguing it's right when it very clearly isn't.

Islay only said hill walkers need insurance. You've made up the rest.

[Deeranged]

Islay only said hill walkers need insurance. You've made up the rest.

Islay says hill walkers should have insurance to cover possible MRT and helicopter call outs. I simply pointed out that the MRT is voluntary so costs nothing and that the helicopter is part of our publicly funded emergency services - Coastguard. I then extrapolated his assertion that hill walkers should carry insurance specifically to cover these costs by suggesting everyone should carry similar insurance in case they too needed publicly funded emergency services. Nothing made up there mate.

[BCram]

Islay says hill walkers should have insurance to cover possible MRT and helicopter call outs. I simply pointed out that the MRT is voluntary so costs nothing and that the helicopter is part of our publicly funded emergency services - Coastguard. I then extrapolated his assertion that hill walkers should carry insurance specifically to cover these costs by suggesting everyone should carry similar insurance in case they too needed publicly funded emergency services. Nothing made up there mate.

My apologies. I should have been more precise and referenced my comments to the bit "let's take Islay's theory to the extreme."