The RAF Sea King from RMB Chivenor flew the injured climber to hospital. Photo: Steve Evans CC-BY-SA-2.0
A climber was rescued from south Wales’s highest mountain after falling and injuring himself.
Rescue services were alerted at about 1.30pm yesterday, Saturday, to the incident on Pen y Fan in the Brecon Beacons.
The man was on a winter route on the north-east face of the 886m (2,907ft) peak when he fell.
Members of the Central Beacons, Brecon and Longtown Mountain Rescue Teams and the Western Beacons Mountain Search and Rescue Team went to the scene while an RAF Sea King helicopter from RMB Chivenor in Devon flew to the area.
Animals and handlers from the Search and Rescue Dogs Association South Wales, who were training in the area, also went to the man’s aid.
The crew of the aircraft managed to winch the injured climber aboard and flew him to Prince Charles Hospital, Merthyr Tydfil.
Rob Jones of the Central Beacons team said: “The location of the incident is a very steep gully which would be full of snow after recent conditions.
“It would have been very precarious to have to send personnel into the location but rescue members were well equipped and suitably trained to operate there, with ice axes, crampons and ice screws.
“Carrying out the effective rescue without the assistance of the helicopter would have taken several hours and put people in very precarious positions.
“The RAF crew have saved the rescue volunteers hours of strenuous, dangerous work.”
While rescuers were making their way down the mountain from the incident, a walker slipped on an icy path in from of the team members, injuring his arm.
Team medics strapped up his arm and helped him walk from the hill with the help of crampons they attached to his boots.
They were then contacted by police concerned about an elderly man reported to be lost, cold and tired on the hill near the Neuadd Reservoir, south-east of Pen y Fan.
Rescuers made their way to the scene and a police helicopter was able to land and airlift the walker to safety.
The volunteer rescuers were on the hills for five hours.
