Having lived in Wales for all my 46years of life and been an avid hill walker and mountain runner for nearly thirty of those years i feel it is high time every Mountain rescue service in the British Isles introduce a blanket charge of £10 to come to a persons rescue whether the person needs medical help or not.

I realise how controversial this may be to many fellow walkers but just for a moment think of the monetary cost of maintaining vehicles,equipment,insurance and rescue buildings.

A few years ago i was given a personal tour around the Ogwen valley mountain Rescue Centre by a member of staff.

Apart from the large amounts of equipment for all seasons aswell as three Landrovers to maintain all funds are gathered through voluntary donations.

Like the RNLI the Mountain Rescue receive no government subsidies and relies on public donations to carry out their life saving work.

It makes me so annoyed on an annual basis hearing about some poorly clad fool being caught out in adverse weather and with those dreaded Mobile phones phoning the Mountain rescue EXPECTING them to come out to his or her aid.

Well if they do come out at any hour of the day or night in any weather often risking their lives then atleast pay them the due respect and assist their magnificent work with a crisp £10 for that assurance of your safe return.

Few things are free of charge now days and i know for a fact that all Mountain rescue services especially in the far more dangerous Alps in Switzerland charge for their services.

If the average walker realised the true cost of bringing out the Sea King from RAF Valley on Anglesea aswell as a fair few experienced rescue people then they would gladly pay a fair charge for their service.

A true mountain walker with years of experience like myself would certainly not begrudge paying to be rescued.

Those who would object and i know there are many walkers who feel its their right to receive a free service are in my opinion not true walkers.

In Britain we have a culture where everything is expected to be free saying we pay for it in our taxes well the mountain rescue donot get any of your tax revenue so PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE spare a few quid next time you venture into the hills because those hardy mountain rescue teams would respect you more if a donation was given to keep their magnificent service up and running.

While it is true that MR needs all the help it can get, I do get annoyed by so called "true montain walkers" casting judgement on others, and especially attaching their hlier thab thou views to a story of the the sad death of a fellow mountain walker. Accidents happen, even to "true mountain walkers" so you make sure to take care Peter Lewis.

Dear Peter,
While I understand that you want to speak your mind about the cost of rescue operations, the person they speak of in this article was my nephew, who died tragically on Tryfan. I don't think that this article should be your forum for your complaints. He was an experience hiker, and well equipped, loved hiking, and always willing to help if needed.

Roman James Deans will be missed terribly by all of us who knew him. He loved creation, and I wish that you would have the decency to honor the life of Roman and be more appropriate in your placements of your views.

This tragedy is so sad, and your comments are considered crass and insensitive by family and friends who knew and loved him.

Thanks David for pointing out this important fact to Peter.

Please keep Roman, his mom and dad and brother in your prayers. We are all grieving.

tom

The walker is my son Roman, and while I agree with Tom that this is not the forum to raise the issue of whether families should be charged, I wish to let everyone know, that we are eternally grateful to the rescue team for the efforts in locating Roman.

We have so far raised 320 quid and we have another memorial service to raise further funds. When Roman's estate is settled we will be donating a significant sum in his memory to the Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Organization.

We are deeply sorrowful at the loss of our beautiful son who was an experienced walker having hiked and climbed in the North Cascades of Washington state USA and in the Rocky Mountains of Canada. He was well equipped and had been on Tryfan Mountain numerous times before, but sometimes accidents happen.

Despite our sorrow, we are comforted at having found his body and being able to bring him home, and we will never forget the rescue team who made that possible. Dawn Deans

Every time we hear news of a death or injury it is tragic.
However, this element of danger is partly what attracts us to these superb mountains of snowdonia.
I myself would have no problem paying a fee if I had to be rescued.Having said that It is up to each one of us to ensure we can get ourselves out of trouble without any rescue aid if possible
But accidents do happen as we all know and Scambling is particuarly hazardous but this is the attraction.
Tryfans east face is a fantastic scrambling area, but sadly an area of many fatalities over the years. I spend many hours soloing amongst the gullies and ridges summer and winter.
I do try to minimise the chance of an accident. however it could happen and that's when we are so grateful for the rescue services.

Condolences to romans family

regds
Mike Harvey (scrambler)

Mountain rescue teams up and down Britain are vitally important.

In Scotland February 1999 - was ascending Ben Lui, when a group member slid on ice and went over 150ft drop.

We abandoned the ascent and gave first aid to injured friend.

Two members were sent down the mountaian to raise alarm.

Commenced blowing international distress signal by whistle: 6 blasts followered by another 8 blast after a minute.

This was repeated many times, til in the darkness a line of head torches & lamps were approaching us.

That night 35 MRT members of Killan Mountain Rescue Team turned out onto icy Ben Lui!!!!!!!