Here we are again. Talking again about mountain accidents, counting the victims again (two deaths) on a normal Sunday like many others. Sometimes we get discouraged, because it seems like we are repeating things to the wind. If respecting the rules and laws is fundamental in common civilization, it is even more so when you go into nature, be it mountains, sea… or even just the garden behind your house!
Nature has its rules
You always feel free when you go into nature. Yet nature has its rules. Plants, animals, even climatic phenomena… everything respects unwritten rules, dictated by instinct or the search for safety (for animals) or by physics (for the elements).
If nature has its rules, who are we humans to want to overturn them?
If it is not safe to stand on the bank of a river while in flood, it is because the water could suddenly rise and come out and overwhelm us. So why do we stand on the banks of a swollen river taking selfies? If it is not safe to play with a poisonous spider, it is because the spider reacts and stings… and maybe kills. So why do we enjoy doing it?
The rules on the mountain …
Mountains have their unwritten rules. They are not mysterious, you just need to use common sense to figure them out. And once you have figured them out… YOU MUST FOLLOW THEM.
Venturing out onto trails when it is foggy, if you do not have a map or do not know the territory, means getting lost; climbing up a steep trail if you are not experienced, means falling; walking around in the evening with a t-shirt and a pair of jeans, means freezing to death as soon as it gets dark… even in the summer, because the mountains are high and the temperatures and climate are different.
How many times has it been said, written, repeated not to tackle snowy trails in early spring, when temperatures rise by a few degrees? Avalanches are always possible and we are warned for this very reason: just to think carefully, to not go… if it is not the case.
Having an expert guide by your side helps you not to find yourself in the grip of panic if the weather conditions suddenly change, if you get confused along a path, if you encounter an aggressive wild animal. Why not make the effort, even financially, to hire him/her?
… And on volcanoes
Volcanoes are often small accessible mountains, but dangerous because of explosions, gases and lava. Some volcanoes, however, are very high (like Etna for example) and therefore they are ALSO mountains.
If you face a volcano that is also a mountain, the dangers double and therefore the rules to follow double. We have already described the rules and risks (HERE!), even more than once, and we will not repeat them here again. It is up to you, all of us, to be well informed before each excursion. Learn well what to do and not to do. And if you are not sure you have understood correctly, always rely on an expert local guide.
Don’t mess with nature, which – as the old saying goes – is “mother and stepmother”: it nourishes us, gives us life but is can also take it away in an instant. The only way to live with it and SURVIVE in it is to respect the rules, respect the laws.
Freedom stops where the safety of everyone begins
The term “freedom” is overused today. For some people, being free means not caring about anything. I don’t pay taxes, I don’t follow the doctor’s advice, I don’t follow the apartment’s rules, I don’t care about weather warnings, shark warnings, ice alerts, reports of ongoing eruptions … because I am free.
Be careful. Personal freedom ends where the (physical) safety of all the people begins. Personal freedom cannot and must not cost one’s own life nor the lives of those around us. (PHOTOS BY G. MUSUMECI)