Charles and a monkey share a meaningful sidelong glance.

The Darwin Awards

2020 Slush Pile

Submissions From Readers
Which should we promote to winners?

2020 Pending Review

Blizzard Boneheads

(February 2020, Scotland) 1,345 metres in height, Ben Nevis is the tallest mountain in the United Kingdom. When Storm Ciara (a blizzard) hit, you’d think climbing it would be just about the last thing you would want to do. But of course, here we are.

4 friends thought they could climb the United Kingdom’s highest mountain in TRAINERS as the -20C blizzard was near. These Soon-To-Be-Icicles were poorly equipped with no ice axes, crampons or even a map on them. As the temperature got colder and the fog got thicker, the quartet divided and they all eventually got lost.

Using the “What3Words” app to flag their location, 22 brave rescuers hiked the mountain to save them. After being rescued the 4 were put in a hospital and humiliated by their own stupidity on this news article:

https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7990811/amp/Four-idiots-rescued-Ben-Nevis-80mph-blizzard-scaling-mountain-TRAINERS.html

Submitted on 04/08/2020

Submitted by: Hugh
Reference:

Copyright © 2022 DarwinAwards.com

>> Moderator Scores <<

Candi said:
Definitely Keep: Honorable Mention
Each of them have earned their own HM in my opinion -especially since NONE of them apparently thought this was a terrible idea! Thanks, Hugh!


Bruce said:
Definitely Keep: Honorable Mention
The photos in that article do an excellent job of demonstrating just how bad the conditions were. Unless you are extremely experienced you're clearly asking for trouble trying to climb a mountain in conditions like that. Thanks, Hugh!