So the first Happy Hash of the year is now behind us and it was a bit of a disaster for some people and resulted in some administration changes as far as advertising of the upcoming hashes is concerned. The hills were a bit too intense for some of our members yesterday and this resulted in a rescue operation of one member, and ambulance (which we thankfully ended up not needing in the end) and a somewhat embarrassed hare.
A new hasher who we now know as "Lazarus" collapsed during a difficult (too difficult, and dangerous) hill climb and it was suspected that a heart attack was happening. This was not necessarily the fault of the hare, but as someone who made it up that hill and had to help several others do the same, I can attest to the fact that there is "difficult" and then there is "dangerous." This section of the hash falls into the 2nd category.
This is "Randy" about 10 minutes before the incident.
Most of yesterday's trail saw us in deep woods and the photo above doesn't give a good impression of how steep the hill was in question. I was unable to get a photo because there were no footholds for the most part. It wasn't so much the incline that was dangerous but the fact that the soil was loose and covered in leaves and stones and this resulted in rather large rocks getting thrown down the cliff to strike those below.
It is well-known that it is the responsibility of the hashers to insure their own safety and to turn back if part of the trail looks to be beyond their abilities. However, it was determined at the circle that in the future if a trail contains terrain like this, either there must be a warning on the website or a "wimp trail" must also be provided.
The circle was a bit somber as the proceedings had to commence with half of the squad not in attendance since the rescue of Lazarus was in progress. Thankfully he made it back with no injury and probably annoyed the rescue personnel when we walked out of the situation on his own two feet.
Thankfully, everyone was fine but it was a scary situation for a while. Hopefully the hares in the future will abide by the new, yet unofficial rule of warning or wimp trail provision.
The next few days are chock-a-block with events, as Saturday's CSH3's event will take place at the usual time and meetup spot and on sunday we have our annual "Ballbreaker" event which will feature a 20km trail. There is also a men's only Monday Hangover Hash that takes place at the usual time.
Full details of all these events and more can be found at the official CM HHH website
