Statistically speaking i’m not a fan of statistics.
The recent release of the 2024 stats from Mountain Rescue England and Wales were turned in to infographics by @ordnancesurvey and subsequently many a media hare was sent running about ‘18-24 year olds being rescued in spades by mountain rescue teams because they are over-reliant on phone apps and slavishly following whatever route the Instagram / TikTok influencer du jour feeds them.
Only some of that is actually statistically proven. Oh, and for what it’s worth there are actual stats to confirm that visitor numbers to the countryside are continuing to increase significantly and ergo it then follows that there will be a rise (as there was in 2024) in call-outs.
My personal suspicion is that even though the call-out numbers are increasing, the number of people rescued as a % of people recreating outdoors is reducing.
I digress.
Writing in the Guardian today, John Harris rises above the stats frenzy and comments on what is required to educate and inform people about the countryside.
We can shout ‘CARRY A PAPER MAP’ as much as we want, and ‘LEARN TO USE A COMPASS’ … but, and this but is based on seeing a few thousand walkers a month, very few people (of any and all ages and demographics) carry either.
The why of all of this was distilled perfectly by Sir David ages ago ….
We all need to do everything we can to encourage responsible outdoor adventures by anyone regardless of how old they are and what apps they use.
*PS statistically speaking the greatest % rise in rescues was in the 75-79 yrs olds. All hail the rise of the silver haired risk takers ✊.