A Dead End

‘“IF so-and-so told you to jump off the edge of a cliff, would you?”

‘I’ll be a happy man when John Prescott builds the new bypass’

The retort of parents up and down the country at children being led astray by their peers.

But a leading climbing magazine is testing the loyalty of its readers by encouraging them to do just that.

The Telegraph says the magazine has mistakenly published an escape route from the top of Ben Nevis, Britain’s highest peak, which would lead mountaineers over a 1,000ft cliff.

A missing sentence in the article meant that climbers were sent towards a sheer drop known as Gardyloo Gully and their certain death.

“If anyone takes that advice, it will definitely put their life at risk,” says Roger Wild, of the Mountaineering Council of Scotland. “It is very unfortunate.”

Guy Proctor, editor of Trail (which is read by 37,500 climbing enthusiasts), said that the mistake was caused by a production error and promised a correction in the March issue.

By which time, the circulation of the magazine might, like many of its readers, have taken a rather severe drop.’

Posted: 22nd, January 2004 | In: Broadsheets Comment | TrackBack | Permalink