"No such thing as a safe mountain"?

Full story on the BBC.

He was on a graded scrambling route and, as I guess, most people know, safety is a pretty relative thing. I'd say it's a fair bet that you stand a greater chance of being killed or seriously injured on the road than you do either hillwalking or scrambling.

Scrambling, of course, is disproportionately dangerous because in effect, scramblers are actually soloing on easy but often exposed ground, and rarely use helmets or ropes, particularly on easier routes.

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OutdoorsMagic Editor | jon@outdoorsmagic.com 

"There's no such thing as a safe mountain. There is an element of risk"

Seems like a perfectly sensible statement to me. At least the coroner wasn't calling for scrambling to be banned, or for safety rails and notices to be fitted to all possible areas of danger.

I went on a Plas y Brenin scrambling course and the guy who led it said that scrambling was far more dangerous than climbing for the reasons Jon mentions, also that people had a lot more minor mishaps.

I think it's safe to say that, many people are inclined towards scrambling because they don't have to buy expensive climbing equipment but can still get a buzz, and because there are more of them they tend to have more accidents. Also they probably would consider wearing a helmet in case of rock/scree fall. I know many climbers who do not.

"Also they probably would consider wearing a helmet"

Sorry should be would not consider.

The thing about scrambling is that it's the optimal adventure activity. No fiddling about getting the gear in, no faffing about with ropes, no wait whilst your partner has their turn, just the sheer pleasure of movement and the mountain.
Yes, it is more risky than walking or climbing, but that is part of its appeal and I don't see what's so weird about getting pleasure out of risk. I think risk aversion is a recent attitude that has grown out of our safety-obsessed society, but last year when I was in South Africa I found the freedom to live life a bit more dangerously very liberating. Obviously accepting risk imples an acceptance of personal responsibility if it all goes wrong, but that's life.

There are on average 20 visiting motorcyclists killed on the roads of Wales every year and up to 100 seriously injured.

Far more risky and costly to the authorities than rock scrambling!!!!