Woman with selfie stick tries to scale mountain in shorts, fails miserably
LONDON -- A woman who was rescued from Britain's highest mountain wearing shorts and a short-sleeved shirt has apologised for not really thinking her trip through.
Sarah Albone, 28, from Brighton, reportedly ditched the climbing poles and ice pick needed to navigate the peak in wintery conditions in favour of a selfie stick and a small bag of belongings. She was wearing trainers too.
Albone quickly became disorientated and even started developing hypothermia before she was rescued by another group of experienced climbers, who labelled her efforts to scale the peak "ridiculous," the Daily Mail reports.
You May Also Like
Ben Nevis stands a massive 1,345 meters tall, a meter higher than previously thought, and several people have died on the mountain in 2016.
In March, the bodies of experienced climbers Tim Newton and Rachel Slater were discovered after they'd gone missing in February and another man, Peter Nielsen, was killed after a fall on March 25.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
Albone, who is a keen cross country runner but an inexperienced climber, set off in wintry conditions on Saturday. High winds and thick cloud cover meant a helicopter couldn't be deployed and so the climbers huddled around her before calling the Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team.
The team's leader, John Stevenson, said "it's still a full blown winter up there" and that temperatures on Saturday night could have dropped to -15 degrees Celsius (5 degrees Fahrenheit) with wind chill accounted for.
"It's just ridiculous going up there dressed like that and it's freezing up there, and being irresponsible means others have to go out of their way to help," he added.
Albone later apologised for attempting the climb.
"I was such a massive prick and I'm so sorry," she wrote on the UK Climbing forum.
"You'll be pleased to hear I'm booking myself In for a mounterneering (sic) course as soon as I get back."
"I was that tit that all proper climbers talk about."
"I was that tit that all proper climbers talk about," she added, in response to another comment on the forum. "The sort that arrives completely unprepared to climb a mountain." She wrote that she was dressed in shorts and Salomon speedcross shoes and her "only supplies were a chocolate Lindt bunny that I ate before setting off."
"No ice pick/poles/shelter any of the things that are appropriate for climbing a mountain. Just the stuff I had packed for the weekend and a stupid selfie stick," she said.
"I kind of knew I was underprepared, and didn't actually intend on getting to the top. I just sort of thought - oh I've got this far - it's not too bad - let's carry on."
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.
Tim Chester was Senior Editor, Real Time News in Los Angeles. Before that he was Deputy Editor of Mashable UK in London. Prior to joining Mashable, Tim was a Senior Web Editor at Penguin Random House, helping to relaunch the Rough Guides website and other travel brands. He was also a writer for Buzzfeed, GQ and The Sunday Times, covering everything from culture to tech and current affairs. Before that, he was Deputy Editor at NME.COM, overseeing content and development on the London-based music and entertainment site. Tim loves music and travel and has combined these two passions at festivals from Iceland to Malawi and beyond.
