Barefoot Walking - Advice please

I'd welcome your collective advice and discussion.

I am organising a trip to North Wales in a few weeks, ten of us, mainly
experienced walkers, climbers and leaders but with one or two fit but
inexperienced walkers. We aim to do some walking in the Carneddau and
maybe the Glyders/au.

It turns out that one of the new walkers habitually goes about barefoot,
and would like to do that on the mountains.

I don't have a problem with his lifestyle choice, but I'm worried about
the consequences.

Has anybody got any experience of this?

Jell
--
To email me, take out the takeout.

Jell wrote:

Has anybody got any experience of this?

Last year I met a New Zealander and his (local) girlfriend in the Lairig
Ghru about 1/2 mile from the Corrour, and they were both barefoot.
They'd set out from the Linn o' Quioch car park and had just started to
return. They both moved faster than me (but I had a heavy pack, whereas
they didn't even have day sacks). It didn't seem to cause them any
problems, but I would say that that stretch is quite smooth for the most
part.

Jim Ford

Jell bashed at the keyboard and wrote:

I'd welcome your collective advice and discussion.

I am organising a trip to North Wales in a few weeks, ten of us, mainly
experienced walkers, climbers and leaders but with one or two fit but
inexperienced walkers. We aim to do some walking in the Carneddau and
maybe the Glyders/au.

It turns out that one of the new walkers habitually goes about barefoot,
and would like to do that on the mountains.

I don't have a problem with his lifestyle choice, but I'm worried about
the consequences.

Has anybody got any experience of this?

Jell


I can only imagine the pain on rocks.
--
Mike.

On Wed, 28 Sep 2005 22:49:20 +0100, Jell
wrote:

I'd welcome your collective advice and discussion.

I am organising a trip to North Wales in a few weeks, ten of us, mainly
experienced walkers, climbers and leaders but with one or two fit but
inexperienced walkers. We aim to do some walking in the Carneddau and
maybe the Glyders/au.

It turns out that one of the new walkers habitually goes about barefoot,
and would like to do that on the mountains.

I don't have a problem with his lifestyle choice, but I'm worried about
the consequences.

Has anybody got any experience of this?

Cavemen?

"Jell" wrote in message
news
I'd welcome your collective advice and discussion.

I am organising a trip to North Wales in a few weeks, ten of us, mainly

Does your "organising" include any liability for matters going wrong?
Taking money, Insurance etc. "ten" suggests to me that your enterprise may
now be covered by legislation - following the various disasters on sea
training, school trips etc.
I think you have to decide what safety rules might be in force, and perhaps
more important, what rules might suddenly come into force or be remembered
when matters go wrong.

[I remember being "reprimanded" some years ago when I permitted an employee
(in industry, and therefore covered by the HSAW Act) to not wear safety
shoes in a safety footwear designated area. (A signed declarations by the
said employee not wishing to wear safety shoes was not acceptable.) From
what I recall, following a risk assessment, safety instructions etc. simply
had to be obeyed.]

Why not ask this question on uk.legal ?

--
M Stewart
Milton Keynes, UK
http://www.megalith.freeserve.co.uk/oddimage.htm

On Thu, 29 Sep 2005 00:05:11 +0100, "Malcolm Stewart"
wrote:


Why not ask this question on uk.legal ?

Or uk.rec.loopy?

:-)


Best wishes,
--
,,
(**)PeeWiglet~~
/ \ / \ pee AT [guessthisbit].co.uk

"I will have a foreign-handed foreign policy."
g.w.AT [guessthisbit].com

On Thu, 29 Sep 2005 00:05:11 +0100, Malcolm Stewart
wrote:

Does your "organising" include any liability for matters going wrong?
Taking money, Insurance etc. "ten" suggests to me that your enterprise
may
now be covered by legislation - following the various disasters on sea
training, school trips etc.

Thanks for this advice. In fact I am doing little more than acting as a
focus for a group of friends, and offering no services as a leader or
safety advisor or anything like that. All I am really doing is arranging
the campsite, organising lifts and generally encouraging people to do what
they know they wanted to do in the first place :-) That said, I am aware
of how the line can be blurred where there is a reasonable expectation
that someone should have been warned that they were doing something
dangerous. (There was an excellent article in Summit on these issues a
year or so ago)

I am aware, though, of my role as a sensible and experienced walker in
advising someone else who is new to the sport.


Why not ask this question on uk.legal ?

Good thought, though I shall reconsult the Summit article first, and see
if that clarifies things enough for me.

On Wed, 28 Sep 2005 22:49:20 +0100, Jell
wrote:

| I'd welcome your collective advice and discussion.
|
| I am organising a trip to North Wales in a few weeks, ten of us, mainly
| experienced walkers, climbers and leaders but with one or two fit but
| inexperienced walkers. We aim to do some walking in the Carneddau and
| maybe the Glyders/au.
|
| It turns out that one of the new walkers habitually goes about barefoot,
| and would like to do that on the mountains.
|
| I don't have a problem with his lifestyle choice, but I'm worried about
| the consequences.
|
| Has anybody got any experience of this?

Only observations on what happens in Arabia and Africa.
When people regularly walk barefoot, they develop a thick hoof on the soles
of the feet, which protect the feet, so they have much less problems than
you would expect. I remember in Africa seeing someone with 1/4 thick
hoofs.

I would try to persuade them to carry a pair of trainers, or something just
in case of problems. Mention paths surfaced with slate chippings, which
I have seen elsewhere.

--
Dave Fawthrop dave hyphenologist co uk
The London suicide bombers killed innocent commuters.
Animal rights terrorists and activists kill innocent patients.

Dave Fawthrop wrote:

Only observations on what happens in Arabia and Africa.

And India, and Australia, and various parts of Asia etc. etc. Lots of
the world's population are habitually barefoot.

I would try to persuade them to carry a pair of trainers, or something just
in case of problems. Mention paths surfaced with slate chippings, which
I have seen elsewhere.

Good idea. A pair of flip flops would probably do and be quite a bit
lighter and low bulk. I walk around barefoot a fair bit (but not at the
level of hiking), and the only real problems are on smallish (a few cm)
loose stones of an angular nature, but regrettably formally built paths
are often surfaced with the like these days.

I recall there was an article in TGO a few years ago now about a chap
usually doing his UK hiking barefoot. It's unusual but if you're used
to it then there shouldn't be a particular problem.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

On Thu, 29 Sep 2005 09:52:09 +0100, Peter Clinch
wrote:

| Dave Fawthrop wrote:
|
| Only observations on what happens in Arabia and Africa.
|
| And India, and Australia, and various parts of Asia etc. etc. Lots of
| the world's population are habitually barefoot.
|
| I would try to persuade them to carry a pair of trainers, or something just
| in case of problems. Mention paths surfaced with slate chippings, which
| I have seen elsewhere.
|
| Good idea. A pair of flip flops would probably do and be quite a bit
| lighter and low bulk.

Not a good idea, I have walked interesting hills in flip flops, in Aden
(South Yemen). Your foot slides about on a layer of sweat, which is not
much of a problem on the level, but caused problems on steep slopes. A
couple of times the thong broke, when I was at the top of a steep slope of
volcanic clinker :-( which made for an interesting, slow descent. The
Arabs used leather sandals with similar strapping arrangement to walking
sandals. Walking sandals would be light and get you out of most problems.
--
Dave Fawthrop dave hyphenologist co uk
The London suicide bombers killed innocent commuters.
Animal rights terrorists and activists kill innocent patients.