CJ Williams
Active Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- Via Turonense (1995)
Camino Francés (1996; 1999; 2001; 2005; 2008; 2011)
Camino Aragonés (2000)
I don't know if someone has already posted this somewhere else on the forum, and I'm planning to cross-post it in several threads because this is VERY IMPORTANT! This news appeared in the local papers here in Navarra this week. I post below a brief translation of the highlights:
Five Korean pilgrims were rescued during the last week of January in the Izandorre shelter, after being left isolated by snow while climbing to Ibañeta. Now they'll have to pay the 1,500 euros that the operation cost Navarre Emergency Agency (NSA) the operation. The five young men foolishly ignored the warnings of locals at different times to not continue through the forest because of the storm of wind and snow (which reached reached depths of thicknesses greater than 70 centimeters in the Pyrenees)...
Navarra thus joins the list of regions that have put a price on the bailouts. Cataluña was the first to do so in 2009, was followed by the Basque Country in 2011, and to date Cantabria, Asturias, Castilla & León and Valencia have joined the initiative.
Spokesmen from the NSA explained that each case would be studied separately, but they said that by "imprudence" is understood "recklessly disregarding weather alerts" or "not being properly equipped in a particular context." ...
The price for a rescue evacuation by helicopter ascends to 1,400 euros. However, this is not the actual cost of aircraft utilization, since the government of Navarra explained that the true cost for sending a helicopter crew, a pilot, a doctor and a nurse, costs just over 2,000 euros. For this reason, they explain, the rates are designed to be dissuasive and not a means of collecting revenue.
For those of you who can read Spanish well, I provide the link to the original article: http://aeca-helicopteros.com/2013/0...escates-que-esten-motivados-por-imprudencias/
I think this measure is absolutely correct and completely justified. Spain is going through a severe economic crisis, and cuts are being made in all kinds of services, including healthcare. There is no justification for risking your life in the mountains on the Camino in winter and then expecting the local government to absorb the cost of rescuing you because you were imprudent. In addition, if you have to be rescued, bear in mind that you are also placing the lives of the rescue crews in danger.
So, if you are an inexperienced trekker, don't speak French or Spanish and are thinking of walking the Camino in winter, think twice and then think about it again. If you do, you are taking an unnecessary risk. And if you do, then you need to heed the weather alerts and the advice of locals. The weather is very unpredictable, and people die in the Pyrenees (and in the Bierzo Mountains and elsewhere) in winter. Be smart, be prudent and buen Camino!
Five Korean pilgrims were rescued during the last week of January in the Izandorre shelter, after being left isolated by snow while climbing to Ibañeta. Now they'll have to pay the 1,500 euros that the operation cost Navarre Emergency Agency (NSA) the operation. The five young men foolishly ignored the warnings of locals at different times to not continue through the forest because of the storm of wind and snow (which reached reached depths of thicknesses greater than 70 centimeters in the Pyrenees)...
Navarra thus joins the list of regions that have put a price on the bailouts. Cataluña was the first to do so in 2009, was followed by the Basque Country in 2011, and to date Cantabria, Asturias, Castilla & León and Valencia have joined the initiative.
Spokesmen from the NSA explained that each case would be studied separately, but they said that by "imprudence" is understood "recklessly disregarding weather alerts" or "not being properly equipped in a particular context." ...
The price for a rescue evacuation by helicopter ascends to 1,400 euros. However, this is not the actual cost of aircraft utilization, since the government of Navarra explained that the true cost for sending a helicopter crew, a pilot, a doctor and a nurse, costs just over 2,000 euros. For this reason, they explain, the rates are designed to be dissuasive and not a means of collecting revenue.
For those of you who can read Spanish well, I provide the link to the original article: http://aeca-helicopteros.com/2013/0...escates-que-esten-motivados-por-imprudencias/
I think this measure is absolutely correct and completely justified. Spain is going through a severe economic crisis, and cuts are being made in all kinds of services, including healthcare. There is no justification for risking your life in the mountains on the Camino in winter and then expecting the local government to absorb the cost of rescuing you because you were imprudent. In addition, if you have to be rescued, bear in mind that you are also placing the lives of the rescue crews in danger.
So, if you are an inexperienced trekker, don't speak French or Spanish and are thinking of walking the Camino in winter, think twice and then think about it again. If you do, you are taking an unnecessary risk. And if you do, then you need to heed the weather alerts and the advice of locals. The weather is very unpredictable, and people die in the Pyrenees (and in the Bierzo Mountains and elsewhere) in winter. Be smart, be prudent and buen Camino!