Scottish ultrarunning champion dies during Highlands record attempt

He ran with zero support. That’s really dumb.

Yo dawg!

Gotta feed the dragon so he doesn't devour the village !

Sounds like you’re just feeding runners to the hills.

I also used to work for an organization that trains people for marathons and I've known a lot of ultramarathoners over the years. I think because it's a fitness-related hobby, there's a bit of a refusal to talk about the fact that a lot of this training and extreme sports is a form of self-harm. They're doing something dangerous because it's giving them dopamine or attention or for whatever reason, but it _is_ dangerous. There's also the people who are essentially addicted to this extreme training, even to their own detriment. I've seen people time and time again be told that a route is too dangerous or even a doctor telling them they need to stop training and take breaks and they just refuse because they're using extreme training to manage their own mental health issues or processing trauma with it.

https://bfl.baseaddict.com/ For how few people do it, a lot of people die base jumping.

Whaaat! When i ask to use my friends air fryer my first question is, "right, how do i work this thing?" And that isnt a critical lifesaving device where getting it wrong in a very short time limit could kill somebody. How could she not take the one second to familiarize herself with the one feature she was gonna really, really need to know how to use....

This is the story I thought of right away as well.

... I don't skydive or base jump so maybe I'm missing a detail but, wouldn't you want to cover where the rip cord is *before* jumping?

I think he demonstrated why the mountain was off limit in the first place by going splat.

Yes, it was Yosemite national park.

It sounds like he wanted a closed mountain to be opened for base jumping and protested by illegally base jumping off it and died doing so, thus proving the point of why it should continue to be closed for BASE jumping.

meanwhile in america "I know the services are today but I need you to come in just work through the grief" this was told to me when i was a burying one of my best friends

Feel like that's different if you're only 20 Edit: I'm blind, disregard me

Massive =/= dangerous. It doesn't take 10,000 feet to die in a fall. The Scottish Highlands often have terrible weather and visibility, seriously difficult terrain to navigate, dangerously slippery or boggy vegetation even at height, crumbling rocks, and very very very steep escarpments throughout. There is also a cultural aversion to access management in the way that mountains in the American west and European Alps are managed, so you don't get trail markings or signposts or even trails at all in anywhere but the most touristed of spots. And the rockfall risk is real and people do get killed sometimes. Hell, a guide I was about to engage a couple years ago died with his clients in Glencoe on a ridge I've done four or five times. We don't know how the accident was initiated, but 3 bodies were the result. For reference, Norwegian expat commandoes trained here with the SAS to infiltrate occupied Norway during WWII. For additional reference, the "well they aren't that tall?" regard is what keeps the mountain rescue service in a very busy schedule all year. People look at the height and wear sneakers and not Arctic layers or waterproofing and then freeze to death. People also take the "no bad weather, only wrong clothing!" saying to heart and think they can tough it out. And honestly you cannot do that; some days the wind will simply just chuck you over an edge.

I can attest to u/Gitdupapsootlass comment, as a totally amateur walker/hiker who has been up peaks including in Yellowstone, the San Bernadino mountains, the White Mountains, and the Highlands. My wife and I spent a about a week and a half in the NW highlands, including going up (or started) the connected munros of Conival and Ben More Assynt, and had to turn back after reaching Conival when it was like Sauron suddenly manifested ahead. The wind at times was unbelievable, and it's partly because there's basically no groundcover at all, you are extremely exposed and the ground is all ankle-breaking scramble. It's also deceivingly easy to get disoriented in the landscape. We got lost briefly attempting that walk the day before. When we got over one rise on that attempt, we found ourselves at an unexpected bare rocky peak, caught a face of skin-flappingly strong wind, and in place of the expected trail were faced with what seemed like the impossible scene of a small dark lake embedded in this rocky plateau with *white cresting waves crashing* from the gale, against a background vista of the surrounding glen and gathering storm clouds. It was so surreal it was honestly kind of unsettling.

Your question reminds me of one of the most deadly and dangerous mountains in the US - Mount Washington in New Hampshire. It's only a little over 6000 feet high and has a road to the summit. Doesn't sound bad at all. However, because of that a lot of people underestimate it. It is known for rapidly changing weather to the point where the fastest wind speed recorded on land is on that mountain (231 mph). If you're not prepared, a nice late summer jaunt can suddenly turn into a screaming blizzard or sleet.

Delta Forces selection orientation and forced walk/run is in the Smokies and it has the highest washout rates in all military selections worldwide. There are many of the toughest ultra marathons are in the Smokies including the Barkley which many years has no finishers.

It's a big thing in Ireland now for getting active 17-18 year olds checked for heart issues. You may not think someone that age is at risk but its making a huge difference in early detection and preventing deaths.

Yes, a friend of a friend passed away doing crossfit. He had only recently got into fitness but was thin and looked very fit. He was 26.

A friend of mine died playing hockey when he was 16 (just amateyr street hockey). He had a cardiac malformation that he didnt know about, he died within minutes after falling uncounscious

I remember a UK Olympic team doctor said their elite athletes had all sorts of heart rhythm irregularities caused by their extreme levels of exercise. I know atrial fibrillation can appear but not sure if this was part of what he was refering to.

that, and you have all these idiot teens and weight lifters essentially overdosing on caffeine and other stumulants before working out (not claiming that's what happened here) 

I know three people who died from sudden heart failure before they turned 40. One was 18 one 31 and the other 39. A fourth person collapsed on the Football pitch but luckily made it through because someone gave him heart compressions immediately or he would have died right there as well. All four were athelticaly active and in good shape. Two even had their hearts checked out before it happened, Just not thourouly enough to find the insufficency. It scares me shitless honestly.

Running 234 miles unsupported practically **anywhere** is not advisable tbh. At a minimum you should have a friend or two who are nearby who have the capability to check in on you if required. If you're running mountains in the edge of Scotland then you should have that, well beyond the bare minimum of gear, a **good** GPS beacon, regular check ins with your support and the capability of checking for weather updates on an incredibly frequent level. There should never be the possibility that a trip and a twisted ankle will leave you unable to get rescued. But people get complacent with this shit and don't respect the fact that what they're doing is incredibly hard and inherently risky.

I did wonder if he simply slipped and hit his head since we don't know the details.

It’s not just about being prepared. Hypothermia can sneak up on you, especially if you’re already extremely fatigued and sleep deprived. Once you’re hypothermic it can be even harder to recognise and do something about. See paradoxical undressing.

Yeah Dean Potter died in a wing suit accident. His ex wife then married another guy who also died from a wing suit accident.

If I were ever gonna take up an extreme sport, BASE jumping would be it. It just looks cool af. And those winged squirrel suits? F*** yeah. But since I’m afraid of heights I doubt I’ll take up that hobby.

Lol thats mundane. Tell that to cave divers.

I wonder how much was spent trying to rescue his friend & him & how it compares to how much he raised. Like, was it a net positive, or did he & his friends end up being a net negative on the finances of mountain rescue teams? I’d imagine mountain rescue teams would probably prefer that people just not do the thing that often requires them to come rescue you, much like how I’d imagine firefighters would prefer you to *not* start fires at all versus holding a bonfire to raise money for firefighting.  

One of the things I was taught as a teenager was don’t mess with cows, and certainly not bulls unless you’ve been taught how to handle them. You got to respect a creature that outweighs you 5x over. Especially when they have horns.

I can believe it! A huge issue in Scotland is fog/mist. You can be looking one way on a mountain summit, turn around and you have 4-6m visibility. Suddenly you are stuck on a summit, no idea which way you came from and how to get off. You’re totally exposed to the elements. It’s super scary.

One of my favorite things about hiking in Switzerland was hearing the dinging cow bells and then you're just in a field with cows on the hiking path lol. So cute. I assume the people that get killed are doing dumb stuff like trying to touch the cows or get selfies with them or something?

That happens in Colorado often, and as a Texan from the flat plains, I have definitely underestimated the weather in the mountains. We Texans will just take off up a trail in the afternoon without a second thought.

Gotta be careful of that.

You can hear the faint sounds of Duran Duran. 

hi, I'm a trail ultrarunner that goes out in some pretty rugged areas and my fiance is a climber who does the same. We both know that there's risk to our lifestyles and we've lost a few friends along the way to sports-related accidents. I think that is the price that you accept at a certain level. It doesn't mean either of our lives wouldn't be over as we know it if one of us died but I think in extreme sports communities there's a lot more accepted risk. Neither of us ever discussed stopping our lifestyles just because we're engaged now - just the opposite, we were attracted initially for a lot of reasons that included our shared lifestyle. I'm quite sure his fiance accepted his passion and knew there was risk.

No like this dude https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/30/renowned-climber-ueli-steck-dies-near-mount-everest

Pure nightmare fuel.