What danger is there while hiking in the Wicklow moutains...

[FreshMint]

Well
I love the wicklow mountains and I have been known to hick and stay there for a couple of days outside.
Even If i sometimes go a little overboard with "beeing prepared" I have NEVER thought....WHAT ARE THE DANGERS in a Irish mountain side:

Well let's cross one thing of the list...falling is a danger and can be avoided by not beeing stupid and try to climb vertical rockfaces, or wandering around in the dark or fog.

But what else...
At this time of the year it is still relativly wet out there, so you have the ocasionla "mud hole" but can you drown or get stuck in one of them?

(I would say the Wicklow mountains are very similar to the scotish highlands excuse my ignorance if I'm wrong here)

So What do you think could kill or seriously harm you out there?

 

[beachlover]

Do people still dig holes for peat? I can imagine going down one of those in the dark could be a wake up call
Incidentally, I know you can buy peat for burning. What's it like for cooking on and have you ever used it outside?

 

[Ditch Monkey]

exposure

hyperthermea

even without being stupid you could trip and break a leg or maybe two. If you are on your own this could seriously increase the time it will take you to the nearest road.

Bears.

 

[gregorach]

I suspect you may have meant hypothermia, DM...Although hyperthermia (overheating) can also be a danger.

You've already mentioned the single biggest danger in any situation or environment, FreshMint - being stupid (aka "poor decision-making"). Unfortunately, no-one in the world is immune, and there is no known vaccine... There are many things that can affect your decision-making abilities, even when quite mild - hunger, thirst, hypothermia, hyperthermia, sunstroke, bad weather, anxiety... Basically anything that makes you uncomfortable, either physically or psychologically, can encourage you to take risks that you might not otherwise take.

It's usually a combination of factors that leads to trouble - for example bad weather leads to a navigation error, trying to get back on track you attempt a shortcut across a bog, lose a boot, come to a river, try to jump it at a place slightly too wide (rather than try to find a better crossing), slip on landing, smack your head on a rock...

 

[Ditch Monkey]

I was thinking of the Wicklow Mountains in the Sahara, friend of mine went up them dressed in a 5mm neoprene wet suit - horrible business.

 

[FreshMint]

Sounds all good guys, the only real danger I can see would be to break a leg.
You don't even have to break both legs to be in real trouble, I remember the pain of breaking my arm and I would assume that walking with a broken leg could make you pass out from the pain.

The only way I can see anybody having his leg broken is by stumbling over a stone or getting caught in something else and than falling thus breaking the leg.

I don't see hypothermia a real danger, in the winter time sure, but the weather is always realtivly mild around may august....
Sure beeing wet does not help, but I have been in the german army for a while and we were wet and misruble for days...it's not pleasant to say the least but not the end of the world.

 

[BorderReiver]

Sure beeing wet does not help, but I have been in the german army for a while and we were wet and misruble for days...it's not pleasant to say the least but not the end of the world.

The problem comes when you are wet and immobile.If you are injured and unable to move,you are not generating much heat.Temperatures do fall quite a bit on a clear night,even in summer.

 

[FreshMint]

The problem comes when you are wet and immobile.If you are injured and unable to move,you are not generating much heat.Temperatures do fall quite a bit on a clear night,even in summer.

of course you are right, I think that I would rather get into my sleeping bag and bivy bag and call mountain rescue before I stumble around with a broken leg.
But yes you are right I have not thought about beeing not able to move and beeing wet.

 

[cod3man]

The problem comes when you are wet and immobile.If you are injured and unable to move,you are not generating much heat.Temperatures do fall quite a bit on a clear night,even in summer.

I heard that more cases of hypothermia happen in the summer rather than the winter, for the reason you mentioned, wet, ill prepared because it is warm during the day...

 

[FreshMint]

I heard that more cases of hypothermia happen in the summer rather than the winter, for the reason you mentioned, wet, ill prepared because it is warm during the day...

and of course since I believe there are more people hicking in the summer time than in the lovely winter.
I personaly love the winter less people around and i like it cool