When our son aged 14 had a ski accident in January the clinic in Moutiers was full of gung-ho skiers, all young men mostly in their twenties, who had crashed while out of control at high speed, breaking many bones in their legs or shoulders. One who had multiple fractures, was even bemoaning the fact that although his GPS showed he’d been doing some ridiculous speed like 80 kph, hs Go-Pro had been switched off and he hadn’t recorded the crash. When I learned to climb the lesson that was drummed into me repeatedly was “always know your limits and never exceed them, be prepared to turn back and always have an alternative plan so that the day can be salvaged and enjoyed in safety”.
I really do believe people have seen so many emergency hospital and helicopter rescue programmes on TV that there’s been a big increase in the level of risk they are prepared to undertake.
But how many of us have tried to nail that one tiny move rather than back off and walk it or sideslip it? All of us, I’m sure.