We had a woman with her two adult children staying one Christmas. Had an unexpected eight inches of snow dumped on our thousand foot long, steep driveway that has two switchbacks. We are normally plowed the day after a snow storm so I checked in with the guests to see if all was okay and found they needed to do some grocery shopping. I offered to take them to the local market in our four-wheel drive. Down and back up with no slipping.
The “groceries” they needed were fixings for hot toddies!
Next day, is their checkout day and I discover them making several trips to haul their luggage down the hill through the snow. Ever watch anyone try and maneuver a wheelie bag downhill in foot high drifts? Seems the Jeep went down and up so easily, they thought they could make it in their two-wheel drive sedan! And, of course, got stuck at the very bottom of the hill.
You can warn, and you should, just don’t expect to be able to fix stupid.
I’m in Cape Town, and the dangers of heading up Table Mt unprepared is part of my check-in conversation with them when I show them the snackpacks I leave for should they go hiking. The mountains in the centre of the city look “tame”; on our way down after an early climb, we often find people heading up in the heat of the day, in sandals, swinging a 500ml bottle of water. People fall to their deaths every year, and many more have to be airlifted off after injury or collapse. The local mountain rescue have a standard alert: YALG (stand for “Yet Another Lost German”). I profoundly wish every host - formal sector or not - would make a point of pointing out that nature is not necessarily benign…
Hilarious, even if sad. Friends and I were once up the mountain in Canada, loading our cross-country skis on the car after a few hours of skiing. There were some baby black bears off the side of the road in the bush. A carload of German tourists pulled up and stopped behind us, jumped out with their cameras, and started snapping away, while moving closer and closer to the cubs, as if it was a photo op at Disneyland.
We had to shout out to them to back away- that the mama bear was doubtless only a few yards away and would tear them to shreds. Their look of terror was priceless, as they said danke, scurried back into their car, locked the doors and drove off.
Yep, I’d at least let them know. If they have not experienced your weather conditions before they will be quite unaware. After that it’s up to them.
Snowdon is near me in North Wales and I always take the car registration number and where they plan to park. In summer I warn of sun/windburn, and make sure they have water. It’s better to be thought of as a fussy old B&B owner than to have the anguish of dealing with sick or lost guests.
For hikers, I have forms on the kitchen bulletin board. I ask them to leave one with me with their cell number (although mountain terrain could mean no coverage), description of vehicle, and license number, and to leave one on the dashboard when they park at a trailhead. It lists name(s), cell number, local phone number (mine), destination, and time of departure. I also ask them for expected return time, but don’t put it on the one in the car (why let thieves know how much time they have?).
Haven’t had to use one yet to go look for anyone, but my mountain rescue friends told me to do this.
Taking the car rego is an excellent suggestion.
Offer your advise. It’s good you are concerned and almost certainly you’ll be appreciated
I’m not clear here. Had it not been plowed by time they were to check out?
This was all within about a 36 hour period. It was still snowing when I took them for toddy supplies and next day they had early flights so were leaving before plowing was really even due to be done.