A casualty is winched into a Coastguard helicopter. Photo: Alun Allcock
The UK’s busiest volunteer mountain rescue team said it cannot sustain the present level of callouts, following a record number during August.
The Llanberis team, which covers Britain’s most popular mountain Snowdon, said a new effort has to be made by those managing mountain tourism to increase hillgoers’ education.
The team covered 43 incidents last month, nine more than the previous record-breaking August in 2015. Its volunteers spent about 1,000 man-hours on rescues, the majority of which involved minor injuries to walkers on the lower slopes of Wales’s highest mountain.
But it also included people who rang for help when they became exhausted, and those tackling the grade-one scramble along the Crib Goch ridge who got stuck. A military helicopter crash-landing on the summit of Yr Aran added to rescue teams’ workload.
Llanberis MRT chairman Rob Johnson said: “We’ve attended a variety of incidents this summer but the most common have been lower leg injuries, people too tired to continue and people cragfast on Crib Goch.
“It has been a massive commitment from a small group of volunteers, each trying to hold down a full-time job and of course have a life of their own over the summer months. 43 incidents in 31 days is not sustainable and serious consideration needs to be given to the future management of Snowdon and its visitors.
“Many of the incidents that we have attended over August were preventable with the right knowledge and equipment and this message needs to be put across at a national level.”
The message echoed that of the Lake District mountain rescue teams who, in one August week, received 25 calls for help, many for walkers lost on Scafell Pike, England’s highest mountain.
The Wasdale team said two-thirds of its callouts were avoidable.
A Coastguard helicopter hovers above Crib Goch during a rescue. Photo: Jamie Rooke
The Llanberis team said Visit Wales’s recent Year of Adventure campaign had seen mountain adventures sold to visitors who are being encouraged to ‘Find their Epic’.
“Unfortunately an increasing number of these visitors are unprepared in terms of both knowledge and equipment and this is leading to more and more people requiring assistance on the mountain – a continuing trend that is proving unsustainable for a small team of volunteers whose funding depends on charitable donations,” a team spokesperson said.
“Over the years we have worked closely with regional and national organisations to try and reduce the number of incidents on Snowdon. However, pressure on the UK’s busiest mountain rescue team has increased significantly over the last 10 years with a 400 per cent increase in the number of incidents reported.
“It is imperative that all agencies involved in the management and promotion of mountain tourism work together to promote mountain safety with the dual aim of targeting people before they arrive in Snowdonia and providing advice on the mountain itself through the national park warden service.”
Phil Benbow, chairman of the North Wales Mountain Rescue Association, an umbrella body for the rescue teams in the area, said: “All of the mountain rescue teams in north Wales have had a busy summer, none more so than the Llanberis team, and I would fully support the Llanberis team in their call for better awareness of mountain safety in reducing the number of avoidable callouts for rescue teams.
“A bigger effort is needed nationally to educate and inform visitors of the simple steps that they can take to make their adventures memorable for all the right reasons and not rely on rescue teams to plug the gap in their lack of preparation.”
The Llanberis team is the busiest in the UK and responds to an average of 180 callouts each year.
Alan
06 September 2016It's been said by many times by many poeple to charge for rescues
It would be interesting to know, how many walkers would be prepared to pay for a rescue. As the report says - most callouts could be prevented.
We have ( my wife and myself ) have walked at high levels in the Alps for many years and are well aware that if we had a helicopter rescue it would cost thousands of euros
Julian
06 September 2016We will also never know how many people are helped by other hill goers so avoiding a Team Callout. I have guided people off of Crib Goch in winter who had no ice axes or crampons, caught a guy falling on the North ridge of Tyrfan and pointed many people/groups in the right direction having first located them on a map. Most times the map was mine as they didn't have one.
Education is part answer but you can't force people to learn! It doesn't help when you have programs showing presenters setting up pretend dangerous situations and energy drink companies sponsoring people to do more and more dangerous stunts.
Rant over!
Margaret
06 September 2016Encouraged to ‘Find their Epic’ says it all.
Beth Roberts
06 September 2016Maybe the time has come to put adverts on TV or in the press to try to educate people (although I'm not sure who would pay for this). Alternatively I see no other choice but for Mountain Rescue to start charging for rescues as they do in European countries. This may then begin focusing people's minds on whether they are capable, well equipped and knowledgeable enough to venture up into the mountains. One way or another something has got to give.
Aultbea
06 September 2016I suspect a lot of people would plead poverty and refuse to pay.
Dave
06 September 2016The police need to take some responsibility and if it was a lower leg injury lower down why does it need to be MRT to respond to it? Do MRT feel they need to respond to every sprain or tired person on the hill and maybe if team not available then people need to take some responsibility for themselves.maybe a low level first aid post could be manned and this is available with ski patrol in Scotland during winter
Parky
06 September 2016Think back to how MR first developed. A stretcher and 2 rucsacs of equipment kept in remote places for SELF HELP purposes. The idea was that hill users took responsibility for themselves. This is no longer the case as teams become more professional in terms of training and response times. The less experienced now see MR as being available on tap and without question. It would take a lot of courage for an MR controller to say 'sorry, but your tiredness/sore legs/unwillingness to continue is not a priority and you have to sort yourselves out'.
Lois Rock
06 September 2016Outdoor magazines at every level fail to communicate to readers the skill level required for serious upland walks. Worse, their editors and contributors laud the conquering of peaks and ridges that are challenging even for the well qualified and highly experienced. They send a siren call to the inexperienced to go and over challenge themselves. The mountain rescue teams should demand a subsidy.
Margaret
07 September 2016Parky - very good points.
All those with various outdoor commercial interests (though not all) are riding on the back of volunteer rescue team members.
Yes, many team members 'work in the industry', but the previous point is still valid.
The difficulty being created, by the number of people on the hill needing rescue, is with manpower; not whether there should be charging or insurance.
Gill
07 September 2016No-one who is actually involved in MR would ever suggest that there ought to be a charge for MR call outs. If you look closely at the article, you'll see that, in fact, the Llanberis team is calling for public education via the Park Ranger service and the tourist boards. This would be an extremely sensible approach, but is hindered by the recent, devastating cuts to the NPAs. Let's also be clear about a couple of other issues. First, it is not only inexperienced, ill-equipped people that have accidents; it might be you or me next time. Second, commercial outdoor activity providers would soon go out of business if they did not fulfil their duty of care to their clients; this means that their dependence on MR is minimal. Lastly, nobody ever chooses to have an accident or get lost. If you've been involved in MR, you'd know that it's extremely rare that the people rescued are culpable. The vast majority are simply unlucky.
Margaret
08 September 2016Gill, commercial outdoor activity providers do indeed have a duty of care to clients - also remembering that many of their staff, with National Qualifications, are volunteers in rescue teams.
However, that sector of the outdoor industry has a relatively small area of influence on the general public.
OutdoorsAndy
08 September 2016I read the comments on an article Ray Mears wrote about wilderness travel in a national newspaper, many people saying there is no wilderness in the UK and you are never far from a house and such info is pointless. While we could debate the definition of wilderness, it illustrated to me the often ignorance of the general public in their lack of understanding of how hostile and rugged our terrain can be.
Education is part of the key, but its delivery is the problem. Given, (very sadly), we are a nation of TV addicts, the BBC need to take a lead on this. Sadly, most of their outdoor programs are very poor.
It appears that part of this is also down to the continuing view that outdoor access is free and walking is cheep. Walking around the local park is cheep, but appropriate gear of the wilder UK area's is not. But investment in time is the most important, and investing in training can be a great short cut to advancing skills.
Can't help but think that challenge walks are also feeding into this, putting people in situations they are not equipped for.
Finally, the death of good outdoor hope staffed by hill users has also lead to a lack of knowledge at the point of sale of many outdoor products. All in all a big mess!
I guess the good news is, at least we are seeing an increase in people wanting to access the outdoors.
And as for the payed rescue debate, sorry to say I'm now on the side of pay for call out. I would happily pay for insurance, as I do when I go to the Alps. But its a hard one...
Martin
11 September 2016We walked snowdon on Wednesday the best weather of the week. We took the Snowdon ranger path. Took a map,compass and wet weather clothing in rucksack. Including flask of hot coffee and couple of ltrs of water. Not forgetting torch, fully charged mobile and first aid kit. Set of about 10.00 am in the morning to give us more than enough time on summit and to get back down. While descending back down the path passed loads of people coming up carrying nothing but a phone or in shorts and tee shirts. Passed some 2/3rds of the way down heading up the mountain. Rescues waiting to happen. It's these people that need to be charged for rescue.
Paula Fraser
12 September 2016I work for a major outdoor retailer and am a keen walker myself. I have lost count of the number of times I have tried to offer advice to customers re the correct footwear/jacket/maps/safety advice when they talk about going off the following weekend to walk up Snowdon/Scafell etc. There are a small minority of people who, because they have seen Bear Grylls bounding around without a care seem to think it's just a bit of a laugh. They poo poo any advice you give them and one girl, who was going to walk up Scafell in March, despite encouragement from her boyfriend, refused to buy a proper pair of walking boots as "they cost too much and I don't like the way they look so I'll just do it in my gym trainers". I tried to point out the likelihood of bad weather and there being snow at the summit but she just wouldn't have it. I then explained that if she came unstuck (inevitable given the time of year) Mountain Rescue would not be very impressed with her choice of footwear. There are some people who you cannot help, no matter how hard you try but all we can do is keep hammering home the message. Personally, although it goes against everything MR stands for, anyone rescued who is not properly equipped, should be charged. At the very least it might keep them off the mountains in the future!
Nigel
12 September 2016Sometimes people don't appreciate that even it our country the conditions can be treacherous & in parts of the highlands it is a wilderness in every sense of the word, I appreciate people can't afford to pay top whack for equipment I myself do it on a budget but a cheaper pair of boots with ankle support & good grips is better than a pair of trainers . As for making people pay it won't happen as how do you put a structure in place for different levels of call outs, having your own insurance is an option but as in a previous comment that's for a visit to the Alps where there is a higher risk of injury/need for rescue than a day in our hills, but that's not to say we shouldn't go out unprepared & be accountable for our own safety