AIBU to think booing the exhausted charity climbers was unfair?

[dottiedodah]

2 charity climbers booed ,because they went before the queue to touch the top!Had already done the 3 peaks challenge and were exhausted .A man physically tried to stop them by putting his hand out! YABU they should have waited .YANBU they should not have been booed

This was my first thought even before I Googled it 😁

To wait his turn like everyone else waiting for their photo / video moment.

I think the idea of queuing culture being particularly practiced and revered in the UK is a myth.

It's up there with 'Keep calm and carry on'

During COVID there was no evidence in my local supermarkets of this queuing culture

Neither at the numerous bus stops where I am first to arrive at the stop, yet last to board the bus.

I don't know what happened here, but there should be room for flexibility, not a rigid adherence to a supposed cultural (debatable) norm. Room for an exception in exceptional circs.

If they had performed a truly outstanding feat and were on the edge of failing, then there was nothing wrong in pushing ahead over those performing a more leisurely activity.

They didn’t want the photo/video moment. Do you often queue for things you don’t want , just because other people are?

Ah missed that bit. Apologies.

I haven't seen the video but just wondering whether he has one of those go-pro things attached to himself, in which case taking the video would be just the same as someone wanting to simply walk up to the trig and touch it.

I find it a bit warped that there's a queue for the top of a mountain in the first place.

It's not a supermarket checkout.

He was live streaming it!

The trig point on Snowdon is raised up on higher rock, with steps up to it and there is a narrowish ledge around the trig stone itself. If it was a free for all, someone would get hurt falling off this ledge. That’s why there’s a queue (that and the fact it’s a popular, accessible mountain).

I’ve done the three peaks. Not for charity, or social media. It was a challenge to myself as I was picking myself up after a very difficult time in my life. It was extremely hard, and yes I did want pictures at the top of each mountain as a reminder of what I could do if I put my mind to something. It’s very easy to dismiss everyone as just being after social media likes, doesn’t make it true.

They should have queued.

He’s absolutely in the right to do what he did. I do a lot of hill walking. I’m not bothered about a photo at the top but I obviously want to get to the top.

I’ve bypassed the queue at snowdon by scrambling up the other side, touch the trig and turn round.

All the muppets (most of whom get the train up) are queuing because they want a solo photo. Loads of them take multiple pictures. I couldn’t give a shit about someone’s instagram poses. every other summit in the country doesn’t have this issue. If you want a solo photograph you either wait till nobody else is in shot or you accept there will be random people in the background. Blimey photoshop is a thing if you’re desperate.

Apologies for no link everyone . Not sure how to link it .Yes my feeling is that they should have waited really .

I hiked up Snowdon/Yr Wyddfa on a glorious sunny day a month ago, the first day the trains started running (they brought it forward a week due to the fine weather...)

I queued an hour for pics at the summit as one of the friends I went with wanted to, and I was happy to do it for somebody who had driven and then hiked hours to climb a mountain at my invitation. Honestly though, the rest of us wouldn't have bothered otherwise.

And yes, the reason it takes an hour is people faffing around taking pics for Instagram.

When I was on it fights and arguments started breaking out with runners in particular running up the final 10m of ascent which the trig is stuck on tapping it and running down.

Honestly, I thought it was ridiculous to get annoyed by somebody simply tapping a part of the mountain to say they had summited, and chose not to an hour onto their time because of vain faffers. I don't think that people wanting a picture at the trig trump people who just want to summit quickly and bugger off. I felt like outraged of Tunbridge wells stood in this queue, and the sheer lack of optimisation of the space at the top of the mountain by picture takers. Runners/more serious hikers weren't causing the issue imo.

The queue is not benign, it takes up a lot of space at the top of a mountain that potentially prevents people summiting, and everybody spending an extra hour at the top would only make the issue worse.

Disclaimer: When I'm not hiking I am a trail runner/Strava wanker.

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.

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).

@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.

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.

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.

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

Never have a read a more British thread on Mumsnet

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

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.

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.

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"

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.

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