http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-mid-wales-33401965 hiker struck by lightning on pen y fan

Sadly two people died from lightning strikes very sad. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-mid-wales-33401965

Yes, very sad. Weather was rough here at lunchtime. Beth had not long been back from a ride and I was weighing up going out.

Only a couple of large thunder claps and saw one lightning strike down in town, but the weight of cloud on the hills looked immense. You'd be right in the middle of it up there.

I was up there riding and it was utterly terrifying. It hit hard, and very fast. Went from glorious sun to darkness in minutes.

As soon as it hit we jumped off the bikes and ran in different directions. Both of us basically stayed there crouching and praying that we weren't going to get hit.

Reading about that now I'm properly shaken. God damn forecast initial said thunder at 2pm, then removed it completely. Seemed to hit about midday.

Me and hux were camping out wed night in the dales when a thunder storm came in. Iv never been so worried about camping out as that night. The lightening was so close and the thunder was constant for an hour. Not recommended!!

Sad to hear about the deaths due to lightning strikes.
What is the recommendation for riding carbon frames in those conditions?

Walkers fishermen and golfers are recommended not to wave metal or carbon poles about just wondering if any tests ever done on bike frame materials and insulating properties of tires?

The warnings to fishermen about carbon fibre poles is because they are essentially long conductors - lightning will take the path of least resistance so walking around with something that offers that isn't a good idea, the carbon fibre itself isn't an attractor as such.

Your tyres aren't going to offer much protection, it has less electrical resistance than air and the lightning has already travelled through several miles of that.

Generally you want to get away from anything that is likely to be attractive to lightning:

Move to a lower elevation. Lightning is much more likely to strike objects at higher elevations. Do what you can do get as low as possible.
Avoid large open spaces where you are taller than anything else around you, like a golf course or football field.
Stay away from isolated objects such as trees and light posts.
Avoid long metal structures.
Avoid water

Mariner wrote:Sad to hear about the deaths due to lightning strikes.
What is the recommendation for riding carbon frames in those conditions?

Walkers fishermen and golfers are recommended not to wave metal or carbon poles about just wondering if any tests ever done on bike frame materials and insulating properties of tires?

The material is largely irrelevant, it's the additional height they give you that should be avoided (a convoluted argument for 26" wheels, skinny tyres and low, aggressive cockpit...).

I seem to remember (please correct if wrong!) that the advice is to avoid: peaks/ridgelines, ledges/caves, being in the open or under/too close to trees or other things that stick up out of the ground (this includes people and your bike, so spread out from both!). Shelter in bushes/plants that are of similar height, ditches, trenches etc and crouch down with your feet together rather than lying down. I think they tell you to cover your ears but that's for the noise more than anything.

Edit: ^ typing too slow!

Here's some advice from the Mawkit Crocodile of Schiehallion...
http://www.mcofs.org.uk/lightning.asp

I've seen a few articles that say one of the blokes was carrying a selfie stick, which suggests he was trying to take a picture of himself in a thunder storm. I must remember not to stick a metal aerial up when there's lightning about.

Really?

I shouldn't ask, but out of morbid curiosity, have you got a link to aforementioned article(s)?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... stick.html

Do a search on Google news for more.

Ugh feck, I think I saw the guy and the group of kids (well, teenagers). Passed them earlier on in the day.

The kids are going to be traumatised for life.

Edit - Actually, having seen his picture I think the guy I saw with a group might have been a bit younger.

Hmm, I'm slightly skeptical of media exaggeration tbh, but I've come across DoE assessors on summits before.

Selfie stick or not, hanging around on the summit of Pen y fan must be a thankless task; there's chuff all cover to be had and if the storm came in that quick, which MR implied it did, you'd be a sitting duck.

Some years ago I was climbing on Pavey Ark above Langdale. It was a really hot still day and I was climbing just in shorts. We heard a clap of thunder, looked round and saw the next flash of lightning and from the time between that and the thunder arriving it was roughly at Ambleside. A minute later the next flash was at Elterwater and a couple of minutes after that the summit of the crag was struck. So within about four minutes the storm had gone from being at a safe distance to being overhead.

The associated rain was cold but due to the residual heat in the rock of the crag if you stood next to the crag you were actually in warm rain.

A couple of minutes later and the storm had passed.

So yes, thunderstorms can move surprisingly quickly.

"As we were climbing up we heard the lightning strike the top of the mountain," he said. "I saw the flash but not the bolt. We kept going to get to the top."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-33407015