AIBU to think booing the exhausted charity climbers was unfair?

I’ve just read the article and both men sound really selfish IMO.

I do understand they’re doing the challenge for a great cause, but they seem to put that over and above the needs of everyone else at the top of the mountain.

They both sound very entitled. They’re focused on their sunburn, them not having no shade and the discomfort the weather brought for them. Well, maybe choose another day to climb, or come better prepared! And please think about the other climbers who will also be feeling the same as you.

This article has really annoyed me!

But no one actually cares do they whether it’s within the time or not. You certainly can’t expect other people on the hill to
give much of a shit. It’s an arbitrary time limit and matters outwith the control of the climbers can easily affect it. Would you ask for your donation back if it took them 25 hours to complete instead of 24.

Agree I would just walk past them all, it's ridiculous

Firstly people aren't queuing for the thrill of it - if there wasnt some sort of organised system in place there would just be a desperate mass for the top

It's not organised. What's happened is that the stepped access to the top has been taken over by morons who have created a queue there. If they weren't all buggering around taking selfies, people would be using the steps as they were intended to be used - for people who don't want to scramble to walk up, get to the top, drop down to where there's space, mill around a bit, enjoy the views, have a snack and some water etc. while those who didn't need the stepped access could do their thing away from the steps.

This John Finnimore had a radio sketch show and did one asking to be sponsored for lying on the beach, previously it was skydiving!

I know of a local small charity that raises about £25k a year and spends £24k doing it but the organisers have a great time

Having now read the article, I am even more certain the two gentlemen did nothing wrong.

There are two sets of people:

People queuing for a selfie

And

Serious climbers trying to reach a goal.

Somehow in this Insta/Facebook/Tiktok clout chasing times we live in, the selfie queuers have become the supposed gate keepers of the mountain peak.

Absolutely ridiculous. As well as dangerous in hot weather.

And improprietous. People should be able to discern the difference between a charity or serious mountain climber and a leisure climber.

But there are no rules on this. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I think it’s arrogant to make a rule up and try and enforce it on others.

It's timed, a 24hr challenge. Were other people timed who were waiting? No probably not, just there for a photo after climbing one mountain not 3. Just like people can park outside your house, people can also walk up past a queue and touch a trig point. Life was simpler without social media, no queues for photos, or the photo included other people who were milling around.

The queues are apparently sometimes over an hour wait, in general people are waiting to get their photo taken with the TRIG point. They wanted to use it for it's proper use and tap in.

I wouldn't wait in a queue for people to take selfiies if I just wanted to get to the top either.

Agree.
His comment "There's no policing of it at all, it is purely free will, if you want to queue you can."

Firstly people aren't queuing for the thrill of it - if there wasnt some sort of organised system in place there would just be a desperate mass for the top which would be both dangerous and likely to be "won" by fit younger men like them, leaving older people/children/those with additional needs for whom reaching the top is even harder and more of an achievement to struggle.

Something doesnt have to be "policed" (ridiculous comment in its own right, does he really expect Pc plod to be stationed up the top of a mountain every day!) to be moral.

Secondly by his own logic, in exactly the same way as there is no "policing" of the queue there's no policing that you HAVE to have touched a special magic point to have been considered to climb the mountain. He's climbing for charity - is anyone really going to demand photographic proof or refuse to pay him because he only climbed 1085 metres rather than 1086? They climbed to the top, who actually cares if they "touched the trig" before climbing down?

As a pp said, most people are queuing for a photo AT the trig point rather than because they dont think it "counts" unless they touch it.

Arrogantly pushing past because you're judging everyone else for "queuing like its alton towers" (Im surprised they didn't refer to the other climbers as sheep) is always going to put people's backs up.

I'm a stickler for queuing patiently and politely but you shouldn't have to queue just because someone has decided there's a queue - you should only ever queue for the primary 'thing' that is being offered. Eg, Snowdon is an open mountain to climb (or walk or sit on the train to), it's not a selfie station, so if people want to queue to take unobstructed selfies they need to wait until everyone just climbing to 'be there' has finished and gone (not going to happen I know!) rather than expect them to queue too - or just take your selfie with people in the background!

Similar example - if there was a pretty bridge I'd expect people only to queue to walk across it (if it was that busy), anyone wanting to stop to take selfies should wait for everyone else to go. Taking clear selfies is not an innate human right 😂

Exactly. It's the queue that's the inconvenience, not the people walking about doing their thing.

That pic of all the people at the top just cements how much I hate hillwalking and climbing! In the unlikely event I ever did want to do a trek like that, the reason is I would want to avoid people, not come across hordes of them there. I’d rather go into town.

Two charity hikers who skipped queues to reach the summit of Yr Wyddfa have spoken of their anger at being booed.

I read this and thought "oh fuck off"

Your thread header is inaccurate. This wasn't a queue to get to the top. It's a queue to take a photo at the trig point without anyone else in it, so you can pretend you're alone on the mountain. It's not an official queue. It's people who have decided to take up public space and turn it into a queue for this moronic reason. Those who don't want to queue for a photo, but want to get to the trig, don't queue.

Exactly this

I don’t know this incident but people tend to do these things as a personal challenge first and for charity second.

just because it is for charity doesn’t mean they are any more important or have any more right to get to the top ahead of the queue.

This is what I've done when climbing snowdon. Tapped the top of the stone pile not the trig. I'm not queueing an hour for photos and it's pretty arrogant to suggest people should be forced to join a long queue of photo takers just to touch the top

It wasn't that many years ago there was no queue. There's no other mountain you are expected to queue at in the UK (maybe scafell pike or Ben Nevis I've not done those for a while).

Last time I climbed Snowdon it was like a war zone of people collapsed at the path side in really inappropriate shoes with no water/food. People having panic attacks halfway down and causing hold ups. Compared to basically every other British mountain it's really bizarre

Never have a read a more British thread on Mumsnet

It's a mountain, not a shop counter, there's no queue.

I accept there is a difference to climbing up to touch the top of the mountain and climbing up to touch the trig.

But when I was on the mountain last month, people were shouted at as they walked past the queue whether or not they were trying to touch the top of the mountain vs the trig. They weren't allowed to get that far before it got aggy. I thought that was ridiculous. The people in the queue on the steps don't have any ownership of the pile of rocks they are standing next to.

Agreed! I know a few people who have done this challenge for charity/and some who just did it. No one person is more deserving than another.

@PoliteGreyDreamer the runners can’t afford to cool down either. They could injure themselves if they set off down after waiting an hour. They often don’t carry kit for hanging around for a hour either. The train passengers wouldn’t understand that.

Indeed.
The issue on YrWyddfa, Ben Nevis and Scafell is the shear numbers of people. YrWydffa particularly as it has a railway up there and a very easy, wide path to follow...plus Instagram. Put it all together on a sunny bank holiday and the crowds are crazy.

I went up many times through the '90s and only took my lads up as they can now say they have summited the four highest mountains of the four UK countries. I would not go back, would not recommend anyone else does, and would suggest many a better walk ahead of Yr Wyddfa (and even if you do go do it, go do Crib Goch for fun).

I honestly would give it a miss. I hear parking is very limited now and there’s a shuttle bus to the top of the pass. Guess you could walk it from llanberis without needing the bus. Or park nant Paris type side and go up a different route. I couldn’t think of anything worse than the tourist route up snowdon.

I did see a really bad video the other day of people cycling up it in the middle of the day weaving through the crowds. The etiquette is if you're biking you finish by 10 which is what I’ve always done.

I also hear Pete’s Eats has closed. Sad times.