Brave or Stupid?

30 year old Philip Goodeve-Docker has been killed while trekking across Greenland's ice sheet. His two colleagues were rescued suffering from major frostbite and shock.

I don't like speaking ill of the dead, but aren't people that do stunts like this a bit dim? Who cares whether someone can trek 400 miles in the freezing snow, definitely not me. What do you gain from this?

It's the people that do the rescuing I feel sorry for, why should they be put at risk just because someone wants to attempt a pointless walk through the snow? Surely if people want to take on tasks like this they should be left to fend for themselves.

And what's this "shock" his two colleages have experienced? Were they expecting tropical temperatures and a Little Chef on every corner? The clue is in the title "ice sheet".

Can you see the point of this sort of "adventure" and should the state (Greenland's in this case) have to pay to find them when it goes tits up?

Maybe they did it for charity, well tried.

Boggersbelief wrote:Maybe thiey did it for charity, well tried.

In this case I don't think they did, but why would you do something difficult for charity - the aim is to raise as much cash as possible, not fail halfway through and come home early.

Never managed to get my head round why people do things like this and rock climbing, i'd be surprised if they were not fully prepared for the kind of weather which was going to hit them and I am guessing something has obviously gone wrong which they were obviously not expecting.

Not my idea of a good time.

Natasha Whittam wrote:

Boggersbelief wrote:Maybe thiey did it for charity, well tried.

In this case I don't think they did, but why would you do something difficult for charity - the aim is to raise as much cash as possible, not fail halfway through and come home early.

The harder the task the more money you're going to raise!

Bloody idiots these three characters. -50 degrees, polar bears, 150m cravasses, etc - bloody nutters. If they want an exciting adventure why not motorcycle around the world like Ewan McGregor did in Long Way Round? At least they will experience different countries and have memories. What sort of memories do you have from a trek in Greenland.
Bloody stupid. He got what he deserved.

Boggersbelief wrote:

The harder the task the more money you're going to raise!

Oh come on, if someone puts a sponsorship form in front of me I write "£5 all in" if they're a work colleague or "£10 all in" if they're a friend or family. I don't even look at what they're actually doing for my money.

I suspect most people are the same.

Michael Bolton wrote:Bloody idiots these three characters. -50 degrees, polar bears, 150m cravasses, etc - bloody nutters. If they want an exciting adventure why not motorcycle around the world like Ewan McGregor did in Long Way Round? At least they will experience different countries and have memories. What sort of memories do you have from a trek in Greenland.
Bloody stupid. He got what he deserved.

You're all heart MB.

Speaking of stupid people in the cold climates, the story last year about a guy who took a few young lads on a trip the arctic and pretty much set up base on where polar bears live!

I think one bear attacked the tent and killed 3 of them. That's stupidity.

aaron_bwfc wrote:Speaking of stupid people in the cold climates, the story last year about a guy who took a few young lads on a trip the arctic and pretty much set up base on where polar bears live!

I think one bear attacked the tent and killed 3 of them. That's stupidity.

Polar bears are found all over, there's no right or wrong place to set up base