One of the team enjoys an unscheduled tea break during the clean-up. Photo: OVMRO

Mountain rescuers teamed up with volunteers to clean up a Snowdonia lake at the weekend.

Members of Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Organisation joined the team’s 333 Supporters Group and the Snowdonia Society at the event at Llyn Ogwen, close to the rescuers’ base.

The fundraising and awareness day was six months in the planning and had to be aborted once because bad weather was forecast.

Chris Lloyd of OVMRO said the aim was to have a large exercise to bring team members together after 18 months of remote working and training and also, to restart the involvement of the 333 Supporters.

“In addition, we wanted to demonstrate to the family of Alun Glyn Owen of the Bethesda Rugby Club, who was drowned in a tragic accident at the end of 2020, how their generous donation had been invested in new inflatable rescue rafts,” Mr Lloyd said.

“These have enhanced the flood-rescue capability of Ogwen Valley mountain rescue team.

“The inspiration came from a number of road cones which had been placed on the A5 to control car parking and had been thrown into Llyn Ogwen. Further visual investigation showed a mass of discarded material on the lake bed.”

Road signs, discarded IT equipment and more mundane items such as bottles and cans were among rubbish cleared from the lake and shore during the event on Saturday. The team launched its new rescue craft at the Llyn Ogwen outflow, at the western end of the lake, while members waded in the shallow waters and others ‘spotted’ for items from the rafts.

Keep Wales Tidy provided litter-picking tongs and bags while Snowdonia Society members undertook one of their regular tidy-ups on the lake perimeter.

Mr Lloyd said: “These volunteers retrieved the usual freshly deposited items such as drinks cans and bottles despite having walked the shores recently. The bed of the lake also produced glass bottles, drinks cans and plastic containers. In addition, a number of old road signs including one RAC sign ‘To the Beach’, some IT equipment and road cones.”

The team also staffed a small display outside the Idwal Visitor Centre, where members of the public could see some of the mountain rescue kit, talk to team members, buy merchandise, or apply to join the 333 Supporters Group.

Mr Lloyd said: “The busy and successful day was concluded with tired but satisfied faces and over £800 raised towards the £130,00 that it costs to run the mountain rescue team.”

Near the end of the day, team members were called out to a medical emergency on the East Ridge of Y Garn. “Having just returned from several hours of litter picking from the lake bed, five team members arrived at Idwal, loaded rescue equipment onto their backs and headed up to the casualty,” Mr Lloyd said.

“As this was a medical emergency, the assistance of the Coastguard’s helicopter from Caernarfon was requested. The winchman was lowered to the team members and casualty on the ground. Having received a handover from the team’s doctor, the winchman and casualty were recovered to the helicopter and flown to Ysbyty Gwynedd.”