Like Tree52Likes

'Wild' camping

Closed Thread
Page 4 of 6 FirstFirst 1 2 3 4 5 6 LastLast
  1. #31

    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Location
    Hong Kong
    Posts
    12,323
    Quote Originally Posted by monomono:
    No, I'd prefer not to hear condescending bragging.
    At the time I had a frozen shoulder (it's a medical condition) which made helping people quite painful. Thus I was only able to help little HK people because they were smaller than me. I would have loved to have walked back up and helped a few more people (they were in tears up there and bruised from falling over etc) but it was too painful so I left it to my hubby.

    Your comments are condescending. You have no idea what you are talking about or what the conditions were like. I don't blame HK people for not knowing how bad it could get - it just does not get that cold in HK most of the year and freezing rain is a particularly rare occurance. I'm sure if I never seen snow and frost I would have gone looking for it as well - its just I have and I know what equipment I need.
    TheBrit, Natfixit and jgl like this.

  2. #32

    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Posts
    11,884

    @HK_Katherine How did hikers get stuck up there on the day, anyway? I'd have thought that if they were walking up, then they would have encountered enough ice on the way to realise they should turn around before it got too bad.

    Did it continue to ice up through the daytime after people had walked up, or had they driven up in cars? Though I'm not sure how cars could get further than people if Route Twisk was icy.


  3. #33

    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    Sai Kung
    Posts
    5,002
    Quote Originally Posted by monomono:
    A less imperialist way of saying "rescuing little HK ladies" would be "helping people caught in the bad weather". It's got nothing to do with race, it's to do with thinking you're better than others.
    You really do seem to have a massive chip on your shoulder. Us people in the real world give 2 shits about political correctness. Are we racist? No. Are we careless? No. Do we give a fuck about people who spend their lives reading and then posting on something that isn’t actually there. NO!

  4. #34

    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Location
    Hong Kong
    Posts
    12,323
    Quote Originally Posted by jgl:
    @HK_Katherine How did hikers get stuck up there on the day, anyway? I'd have thought that if they were walking up, then they would have encountered enough ice on the way to realise they should turn around before it got too bad.

    Did it continue to ice up through the daytime after people had walked up, or had they driven up in cars? Though I'm not sure how cars could get further than people if Route Twisk was icy.
    Two reasons people were up there.

    Reason 1: It was the day of the Hong Kong 100 - which finished at Route Twisk. Many hikers came up the back and got stuck at the top. They were wearing typical trail running gear and thus were in a lot of trouble. The helicopters were mainly helping those people. (I saw someone with a thermometer about 2/3 the way up - it was reading minus 6 degrees so colder at the top).

    Reason 2: Some people (locals) walked or took cars up the mountain early in the morning when they found out it would be a frost/snow. It was very cold, but ok. They got up the mountain. Then it rained but the road (tarmac) was really really cold, so the rain froze solid on the tarmac road. It was a layer about 1-3cm thick of solid ice. I've never seen anything quite like it. As you know, the road up Tai Mo Shan is often sheer drop on one side and concrete slope on the other - there was nowhere to go. At the edges (this is where hubby found the firemen crawling) in the ditch you could sometimes get a grip but in places there was just zero footing at all. People were sliding down on their bums and everything. It was these people I was helping - so at least they had coats on. Just shoes had no grip at all - they litterally (I had one on each side) hung onto my arms and slid down while I walked. Quite surreal.

    And yes, the cars were totally stuck that went up before the rain. And the fire trucks and the ambulances also got stuck half-way up.
    drumbrake, jgl, Coolboy and 3 others like this.

  5. #35

    Join Date
    Jun 2019
    Posts
    7,463
    Quote Originally Posted by jgl:
    What dangerous plants and animals- there's what, one or two mildly venomous species of snake? Who goes up stream beds or landslide terrain during rainstorms?

    HK has to be the single safest place I have ever been to for outdoor activities. It's so safe that it's quite frustrating.

    People can get hurt here, but usually that's because they have grown up in such a ridiculously coddled environment that they have zero wilderness sense.



    I preferred it when it was wild bears
    Truth be told, HK used to have big "dangerous animals" as part of it's ecoystem, creatures like the Asian Black Bear, South China Tiger, Leopards, Chinese alligators, Saltwater Crocodiles and the False Gharial. But over time, most of them were driven to local extinction from direct hunting or habitat destruction.

    This may sound crazy, but I personally don't mind bringing back some predators, it will keep the boar, feral dog and monkey population in check. And it would knock some sense into HK people about what is and is not truly dangerous wild environment.

    But ah, I know, that is only wishful thinking of course. Given the local HK mentality, people here will never tolerate any sort of big animals that would pose a threat to them, even if the actual risk is quite low. I suppose it is possible to bring "niche" predators back, like Clouded Leopards and Chinese alligators, both of which are not a threat to humans. But given the general ignorance that HK people have to wild animals in general (i.e. some hikers mistook a tiny leopard cat for a tiger in HK earlier), that's not likely to occur either sadly.

  6. #36

    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Posts
    11,884
    Quote Originally Posted by Coolboy:
    Truth be told, HK used to have big "dangerous animals" as part of it's ecoystem, creatures like the Asian Black Bear, South China Tiger, Leopards, Chinese alligators, Saltwater Crocodiles and the False Gharial. But over time, most of them were driven to local extinction from direct hunting or habitat destruction.

    This may sound crazy, but I personally don't mind bringing back some predators, it will keep the boar, feral dog and monkey population in check. And it would knock some sense into HK people about what is and is not truly dangerous wild environment.

    But ah, I know, that is only wishful thinking of course. Given the local HK mentality, people here will never tolerate any sort of big animals that would pose a threat to them, even if the actual risk is quite low. I suppose it is possible to bring "niche" predators back, like Clouded Leopards and Chinese alligators, both of which are not a threat to humans. But given the general ignorance that HK people have to wild animals in general (i.e. some hikers mistook a tiny leopard cat for a tiger in HK earlier), that's not likely to occur either sadly.
    That's like saying that wolves and bison should be introduced to New York. Times have changed a bit.

  7. #37

    Join Date
    Jun 2019
    Posts
    7,463
    Quote Originally Posted by jgl:
    That's like saying that wolves and bison should be introduced to New York. Times have changed a bit.
    No, not really. There is no real wilderness in New York city of course, unlike HK. And there is a spectrum of predator types, they are not all one and the same. We don't need the biggest predators, just ones that can bring some balance to the local ecosystem. Like I mentioned, clouded leopards and chinese alligators don't pose a threat to humans, yet they could potentially control the local boar and monkey population to some extent.

    But it would not matter, the local HK mentality won't allow for any of it. There is too much ignorance among the average locals to understand.
    Elegiaque likes this.

  8. #38

    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Posts
    11,884
    Quote Originally Posted by Coolboy:
    No, not really. There is no real wilderness in New York city of course, unlike HK. And there is a spectrum of predator types, they are not all one and the same. We don't need the biggest predators, just ones that can bring some balance to the local ecosystem. Like I mentioned, clouded leopards and chinese alligators don't pose a threat to humans, yet they could potentially control the local boar and monkey population to some extent.
    I'd say there is a lot more 'wilderness' in NY state than HK SAR. I would also say that there is no wilderness in the SAR, that I'm aware of.

    Quote Originally Posted by Coolboy:
    But it would not matter, the local HK mentality won't allow for any of it. There is too much ignorance among the average locals to understand.
    Hmm.
    Last edited by jgl; 28-06-2019 at 11:12 AM.
    fletcher likes this.

  9. #39

    Join Date
    Jun 2019
    Posts
    7,463
    Quote Originally Posted by jgl:
    There is no real wilderness in HK.

    I mean that quite seriously.
    Have to disagree with that, there is some pretty wild places in HK, perhaps not so free of human touch and impact, but given the small place of HK, there is some remarkably wild jungles and animals here. So yes, there is wilderness in HK.

    After all, I can't recall anyone hiking in a wild forest within NYC, and I don't think Central Park counts as wilderness.
    Last edited by Coolboy; 28-06-2019 at 11:15 AM.

  10. #40

    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Posts
    11,884

    Perhaps we have totally different concepts of wilderness then. Because to me, if you can walk for an hour in a straight line and find a road, concrete trail or footpath, it's not wilderness. And as you say, HK is a small place.

    I would point out that 'jungle' is not the same as 'wilderness'. I have jungle a 2 minute walk from my front door, it's not wild.