Shine a light!!

A FATHER and his 21 year-old son from Suffolk yesterday decided that a quick stroll up Cwm Idwal in darkness would be a good idea. Problem is, they forgot a couple of items, including a map, rope and boots.  They did have trainers, a head torch and a hand held torch,  with the result that twelve members of Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Team and an RAF helicopter crew had to risk their own lives going out in high winds in search of the pair on Cwm Idwal, Snowdonia.
The climbers, from Suffolk, were finally brought to safety at 12.30am yesterday, having set off to scramble up the peak at around 3.30pm on Saturday.
It's easy to sit back and think 'What possessed them?' and watching a programme in the 'Raging Planet' series on Bravo in which several people set out to climb mountains without first checking the weather forecast does pose the question as to whether some folk should ever be let out alone.
Climbing Cwm Idwal at night isn't wrong per se of course; the UK Special Forces have a base quite nearby and often send their troops up, fully laden with gear, at night.  Doing it in trainers, without maps and ropes is, however, probably inadvisable or, as our Ogwen rescue team friends might say - bonkers.  However, our society has - for some time - been moving towards a risk-averse culture in which every possibly contingency has to be anticipated.  For teachers and those involved with organisations such as Scouts, this places significant burdens on their time and energy, not least in completing the now infamous risk assessments.  The current litigious climate doesn't help matters, either, but eliminating risk is neither practicable nor desirable.  Kids have to make mistakes;  they have to fall out of trees, trip over, get cut, lacerated and bruised because otherwise they're simply not equipped for life. And parents have a responsibility to teach them.  Informed risk management  is how we should be preparing our children for the future, but we're failing abysmally in that lofty ambition. Perhaps we might see a day in which children sue parents and politicians for failing to prepare them properly by removing too much risk.  Wonder if the MP's own risk assessments would cover that, then?