An Intense Day on Crib Goch

September 29, 2020 6:00 AM

An Intense Day on Crib Goch Brave Dave is a Youtuber and Mountain Leader who spends a lot of time in Snowdonia in North Wales. In March 2020 he & a friend were climbing the Crib Goch ridge in poor conditions. On the descent they bumped into another pair of climbers Tony & Ed. As they made their way down a steep, slippery slope Ed lost his footing and slid down the mountainside. The video shows what happened next. (Contains swearing and injury).

6 months later and Dave has posted a follow-up video with more information on what happened that day and a catch-up on Ed's recovery.

If you like your adventure with fewer mountain accidents & more Canadian freight trains, then you might also like Brave Dave's Big Fat Freight Hop.

posted by jontyjago (16 comments total)

This is excellent.

I've traversed Crib Goch many times, once in conditions like this when the weather turned a couple of hours sooner than predicted. We got off the end of the fun section of the ridge together and in one piece, but it's not something I'm in a hurry to repeat. I do wonder about taking the route down to the Pyg Track, it can be very slippery, but I don't wish to judge their decision. I wasn't there and those conditions were getting vile.

In good or OK conditions, it's one of the best mountain days you can have in the UK, although get up early to avoid too many people. But in wet or windy conditions it can end up being just one opportunity after another to slip if you are not paying attention to every foot placement. And too many people head up thinking it's just a walk.

The Mountain Rescue teams in the UK are volunteers (he makes this point really well at 28:00) and do the most incredible job. But I'm continually amazed at how many people I meet in places and conditions like this who are underclothed, underequipped and underskilled for the conditions. In contrast, these guys appear to have done a fantastic job to get the MR team out and take care of Ed in the meantime. Dave's ML training showed and they had the right emergency kit with them by the looks of it.
posted by dowcrag at 7:25 AM on September 29, 2020 [3 favorites]

Follow-up to my comment about escaping down off the ridge to the Pyg track, Dave sensibly puts on some microspikes to revisit the spot where Ed slipped.
posted by dowcrag at 7:27 AM on September 29, 2020

I say all this as someone who needed wrist surgery after my own fall on Snowdon...
posted by dowcrag at 7:28 AM on September 29, 2020

If you're concerned about watching it on account of squeamishness, it appears that Dave dropped a bit ol' blur filter over the footage when they first find Ed so you can tell he's not in a good way, but it's not obviously like bone-through skin and blood all over the place.

It's also very well edited - just enough leading in to the incident to give you a sense of the environment, but not a full hours worth of shirt rending and pleas for caution.
posted by Kyol at 7:35 AM on September 29, 2020 [1 favorite]

Dowcrag - I've seen people show up for hiking in the mountains in single digit (Celcius) temperature, with pouring rain/driving wind and ask around for a spare parka at the trail head because they didn't bring one, but wanted something to complement their skinny jeans and sneakers. The confidence/obliviousness some people have when it comes to the outdoors is just unreal.

That looks like an amazing hike but definitely one you'd need to respect. Never thought of the UK as a place with views worth seeing, it's marketed to us here in Canada as the place to go because that's where the history comes from. Something to keep in mind when we can travel again.
posted by LegallyBread at 8:15 AM on September 29, 2020 [3 favorites]

In the summary video Dave makes a good point about the volunteer nature of Mountain Rescue and how given that and the terrain you shouldn't expect them to arrive within 10 minutes.

And then 2 hours after posting this, I spot this - Jet Suit Paramedic Trials in the Lake District.

Never thought of the UK as a place with views worth seeing - whilst there might not be soaring 10,000ft mountains, and it's all relatively small in scale compared to many places, there are magnificent vistas to be had all over the country, from the South Coast to Wales to the Lakes to the Scottish Highlands and much, much more. We'd love to have you over for a visit!
posted by jontyjago at 8:34 AM on September 29, 2020 [8 favorites]

We can pack a lot of stuff into some quite small outdoor spaces!
posted by dowcrag at 8:46 AM on September 29, 2020

I cringe looking back to some of the careless stuff I did, screwing around near waterfalls and the like. Good to see this came out OK.
posted by thelonius at 9:18 AM on September 29, 2020

I traversed Crib Goch in misty conditions when in secondary school on a field trip.
posted by carter at 11:32 AM on September 29, 2020

I've seen people show up for hiking in the mountains in single digit (Celcius) temperature, with pouring rain/driving wind and ask around for a spare parka at the trail head because they didn't bring one, but wanted something to complement their skinny jeans and sneakers. The confidence/obliviousness some people have when it comes to the outdoors is just unreal.

And I've heard plenty of stories from the Australian outback about tourists proposing to set off on a solo jaunt off the side of a sand track from nowhere to nowhere else in fifty degree heat on a 250 dirt bike with half a litre of water, a general air of optimism and precious little else.

Makes me wonder whether these people think they somehow get to re-spawn at base camp if shit goes sideways.
posted by flabdablet at 12:05 PM on September 29, 2020 [2 favorites]

I've heard plenty of stories from the Australian outback about tourists...

They do that in Death Valley also. Some get lucky, others don't. It happens reasonably often. Signs don't seem to help as much as one might hope.
posted by aramaic at 12:22 PM on September 29, 2020 [1 favorite]

Mt. Washington's famous orange signs aren't as visually arresting but the wording should makes the stakes clear: "Many have died..."

I've turned back above tree line due to intense localized hail; hiking back down the warm and sunny trail my companions and I had an interesting conversation about our responsibilities towards the oblivious families hiking up without so much as a windbreaker in sight, asking us 'how far to the restaurant at the top' because their shared water bottle was running low.

Thanks for sharing this video. I miss mountains a lot right now.
posted by soy bean at 2:10 PM on September 29, 2020

Great post. Terrific review of an accident unfolding. I was really impressed with brave dave's admission that he didn't do everything right, and his commitment to ongoing wilderness first aid education.

I've been first-on-scene for an uncannily large number of traumas. Even though I had EMT training (years ago), I fumbled some basics the first few times.

Also, I've had hypothermia twice in wilderness situations. It's no joke, be careful out there and layer-up.
posted by j_curiouser at 2:33 PM on September 29, 2020 [2 favorites]

I've walked this exact route many times. I've seen good conditions, but the bad conditions get scary fast.

This video really touched me. This was pretty much exactly the way my dad died. Different mountain, but otherwise similar: a slip on a snowy patch in the wind, a long tumble, and gone. The mountain rescue team worked their arses off to try to save him; I've an enormous respect for their work.
posted by avapoet at 3:35 PM on September 29, 2020 [6 favorites]

What I keep thinking is how Dave is doing this crazy shit, while still holding his selfie stick so he can keep filming. Seems kinda fucked up. Glad Eddy made it. Mountain Rescue appear to be fucking heroes.
posted by Windopaene at 8:03 PM on September 29, 2020

What I keep thinking is how Dave is doing this crazy shit, while still holding his selfie stick so he can keep filming

Somewhere in the comments, he says that for the most part, it was on his head, he'd pressed record as they were descending and when it all went wrong he forgot it was still running. He also confirms that Ed (the injured man) did give permission for this to be uploaded. Still crazy. Mountain Rescue still heroes.
posted by plonkee at 5:17 AM on September 30, 2020