Kirsty Pallas

The Non-Tech Path to Safety:

Kirsty Pallas has been a member of Oban MRT for over ten years, having joined at nineteen. She is a mountaineering instructor who works across Scotland and has been instructing since she was seventeen. One of Oban team’s training officers, Kirsty works on both the Scottish Mountain Rescue rigging and avalanche rescue courses, training members across all Scottish teams. She is also a shout manager for Oban and sits on the board. Both within MR and the wider outdoor industry, she’s an advocate for increasing inclusivity and removing barriers to access, so everyone can have the opportunity to enjoy spending time in the mountains as much as she does.

‘When we think of safety in rescue, we think of technical skills: rigging, avalanche, winter mountaineering, search, off-road driving. And while we train all these regularly, is there more ways we can increase the safety of our teams? The majority of accidents happen when driving or on steep snow slopes, so how can we mitigate against these in even very experienced people. Moving towards an open and equal team, allowing everyone to speak up and share when something feels off, are some of the steps we can take. Leaning on different experiences that people bring into teams, and different ways of communicating. We talk about hard and soft skills, but what happens when we view them on the same level, equally important to keeping us all safer on the hill.’

Image © Morag Skelton.