Mountain rescue teams are pleading with Instagram obsessed Gen Z hikers to properly prepare for their adventures as they are blamed for a record number of avoidable callouts.
Lake District Search And Mountain Rescue Association (LDSAMRA) have received seven per cent more 999 calls this year, with many coming from from 18 to 30 year old’s.
Volunteers for the organisation believe social media is to blame, with beauty spots going viral and inspiring inexperienced hikers to tackle peaks their do not have the skill to climb.
Many wear inappropriate clothing, like t-shirts and trainers, only have the torch on their phones and do not take a map with them.
This leads to many getting lost, requiring the assistance of volunteer-run Mountain Rescue teams to get them down safely.
Richard Warren, press officer at the LDSAMRA and a rescuer himself, said: ‘The greatest numbers are in the age range of 18 to 30 and a lot of it is down to social media.
Mountain rescue teams are pleading with Instagram obsessed Gen Z hikers to properly prepare for their adventures (pictured: A female climber who plunged 20-metres down a Lake District mountain was saved in a million-to-one chance)
Lake District Search And Mountain Rescue Association have received seven per cent more 999 calls this year, with many coming from from 18 to 30 year olds (stock photo)
Many hikers wear inappropriate clothing, like t-shirts and trainers, only have the torch on their phones and do not take a map with them (pictured: Ullswater in the Lake District)
A climber enjoys the views from a Snowdon, Wales’ highest peak
Beauty spots on mountains offer breathtaking views but they can also be dangerous (file image)
‘Because of social media, and particularly Instagram, people come to the Lake District and want selfies in particular beauty spots.
‘In the early days of tourism in the Lake District it tended to be experienced walkers and climbers that would get out and about on the mountains.
‘I think there’s been a a much larger number of people in that age group now just coming up because they see what others are doing and they’re encouraged to come up.
‘Unfortunately, these people don’t really plan their trip up to the Lake District and they can get themselves into trouble.’
Scafell Pike, England’s highest mountain, standing at 981m (3,210ft), keeps teams the most busy.
Richard said: ‘Scafell Pike is the highest mountain in England, it’s on people’s bucket list.’
He said people think ‘If you’re going to bag a mountain, bag the highest.’
Richard added: ‘It gets heavily promoted in social media and on television programmes, mostly in beautiful weather.
‘But when the visibility is down to 10 metres and it’s pouring with rain and blowing a gale and freezing cold, it doesn’t really get the audiences.
‘But that’s the life of the Cumbrian mountains, the weather goes like that.
‘So peoples come expecting it to be beautiful, and it is in summer, but it can change.’
He added: ‘People who are fresh to it won’t fork out for a really good quality, waterproof jackets and leggings and boots and rucksack and everything that you really need to enjoy a good day on the hills.
‘They they come into the valley, they set off in their shorts and T-shirts and trainers and and that’s fine when the weather’s good, but what tends to happen is that the weather comes in, the cloud might be down on the tops, they get lost.
Traditional dry stone walls at Ashness farm overlooking Lake Derwentwater in the Lake District
Buttermere lake in the Lake District at dawn during autumn
Two people hike up a path on Scafell Pike mountain in the Lake District
Wast Water with Scafell Pike rising in the background in the Lake District
Explorers trekking to Snowdon in Wales – with some even wearing shorts to battle the elements over the Easter break
Lengthy queues of hikers headed up Wales’s highest peak Snowdon over the Easter break this year
‘They get cold, they get wet, they take a lot longer than they should.
‘It’s dark, they don’t have a torch apart from what’s on their mobile phone.
‘So things tend to go wrong because they haven’t thought and prepared things.’
So far in 2024, the The Lake District Search And Mountain Rescue Association have received 418 emergency calls, and put in 22,000 hours of rescue time.
The Wasdale Mountain Rescue team, who cover the area which includes Scafell Pike, England’s tallest mountain, have been the busiest team in the Lakes this year.
They have received 92 calls, and have completed 5,800 hours of service already.
Almost 60 per cent of these calls were for people in need of assistance on the 981m (3,210ft) high peak.
Of these calls, 60 per cent are considered avoidable.
Experts advise that walkers who want to tackle the peak to ensure they know the route, have the correct gear and have checked the weather before setting off.
