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Topic Date User

Climbers rescued off Margarine Ridge, Mt Hay 14-Nov-2011 At 5:51:32 PM Tex

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Are the number of "soft rescues" increasing? Probably, bearing in mind the increase in the number of people participating in all form of outdoor recreation. Add to that improvements in technology (mobile phone reception, PLB's etc). Is it a bad thing though. Let me give a couple scenario's. Solo bushwalker goes out underprepared and get's lost. Option 1: He/she calls 000 early/sets off PLB = Rescue crew go's in and retrieves person (couple of hour task at most). Option 2: Person doesn't call 000/set of PLB = large-scale search operation over many days and involving many personnel. As for the topic at hand (recent Margarine job). Could the pair have self rescued? Possibly, but given the conditions and lack of water they could have attempted to complete the climb with one of them ending up going down from dehydration/heat exhaustion = greater potential for serious injury/illness or even death = more difficult rescue at the end of the day. IMHO, it's more about education. As has already been said, billing for rescue has the potential to lead people to push on and ultimately make the situation worse for all concerned.