Lightning and Fell Racing

Hi Folks,

A question to the more experienced fell runners. I was planning on running the Skiddaw fell race this weekend. But the forecast says there is a risk of thunder (hence lightning).

I know the chance is pretty small but the official advice is to stay away from summits. How many of you would cancel out on a race with a strong likelihood of lightning? I know some fell runners pride themselves on going on regardless of weather. But this is making me think twice as there is little you can do to mitigate the risk (other than not climbing). And the chance of dying or serious injury is high.

Thank you in advance. I'd be interested in your thoughts ;)

They re routed ennerdale off the tops for this very reason this year

Lightning scares the hell out of me! Personally I would avoid exposure to it for the sake of a race. Given Ennerdale, I'd be surprised if the RO doesn't re-route if the forecast has a high degree of confidence.

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Originally Posted by dcglim

Hi Folks,

A question to the more experienced fell runners. I was planning on running the Skiddaw fell race this weekend. But the forecast says there is a risk of thunder (hence lightning).

I know the chance is pretty small but the official advice is to stay away from summits. How many of you would cancel out on a race with a strong likelihood of lightning? I know some fell runners pride themselves on going on regardless of weather. But this is making me think twice as there is little you can do to mitigate the risk (other than not climbing). And the chance of dying or serious injury is high.

Thank you in advance. I'd be interested in your thoughts ;)

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In the UK it would be pretty rare.. I've only once retreated and that was due to a graupel storm and we were literally buzzing with static… like having a swarm of bees on your head.

I'd leave it up to the organiser, local forecasts right before, even just how the sky looks, but even if there is a storm the chance of a strike is low.. in the US I tend to avoid being above the tree line when the storms are forecast, but the storms, especially around now, are so predictable, you can feel the humidity build and then we have a huge storm..

It is a significant risk (although substantially less than hypothermia) amounting to a few score people injured (estimates 30-60) and several fatalities a year (several - up to ten) in general population.

A couple of references here
http://www.torro.org.uk/site/lightning_info.php
http://www.rmets.org/sites/default/f...2013-elsom.pdf


Scares the hell out of me -
Thing is , you dont need a direct hit even, it can ground propagate from the point of strike, and it is very unpredictable. It has been known to literally strip clothes away, leaving someone naked with just the burn from a belt buckle! (embarassing or what!)

I well remember Lee Trevino the golfer who I followed in my youth, tempting fate, by saying of lightning "I have a pact with god, and he promised he wont throw any darts at me" - it was only weeks later he had serious injuries from just such a lighting strike, from what I recollect, burning out some soft tissue in his spine (so lucky not to be paralysed, by the sound of it). After that he was first to get off the course when it threatened even hundreds of miles away!

As a fatalist I figure if your number is up then its curtains for you, regardless of what you are doing.

Therefore whilst I try not to tempt fate I do like to have a life with some calculated risk taking and excitement personally the threat of a thunderstorm would not put me off of venturing onto the fells but I would be constantly assessing the situation and possibly bailing out if conditions warranted it.

Does that mean. as a fatalist, you would cross the road without looking :p?

ps - last year I was camping by a lake in the Jura during one of the most impressive thunder storms I've ever witnessed. I ran round the lake, keeping below the tree-line and away from exposed cliff edges and felt reasonably safe most of the time, despite there being almost no gap between the thunder and flash of lightning at some points. The most bizarre (and quite scary) thing though was that on the lake there were still a dozen or so fishermen, totally exposed to the lightning with some even sheltering from the rain under massive umbrellas! They were definitely fatalists!