Mountain rescue team responds to record call-outs as strain grows on volunteers

Britain’s busiest mountain rescue team has responded to a record 300 emergencies already this year – after a walker was injured in a fall on Snowdon (Yr Wydda).

MRT Descending Crib Coch. – “Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team member descending Crib Goch following a rescue”. Photo: J Kiernan.

The milestone was reached when Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team volunteers were called to the Pyg track on the highest peak in Wales and England, in wintry conditions.

The walker had a head injury and was taken to hospital at Bangor. This was followed two days later by the 301st call-out to assist a pair of walkers who had become stuck near the top of Snowdon.

This week the team warned the increase in the number of calls was placing “huge pressure” on them. Many incidents happened during busy holiday periods and volunteers were asked to attend several call-outs a day, leading to team member fatigue and the risk of volunteer burn-out.

Heli drops off team member – “Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team member after being dropped off by Rescue 936 on the summit of Carnedd Ugain”. Photo: J Kiernan

Llanberis MRT chairman Dr Richard Griffiths said:“We are hugely lucky that our volunteers are willing to go out at any time of day to rescue fellow walkers, climbers, runners and mountain bikers whose day has gone wrong.

“Our average member attends around 40 call-outs per year. The time impact on them and their families' lives cannot be understated.

“This has been our busiest year yet, and as we get busier and busier there is a very real risk that the service becomes overloaded and we are not able to respond to those in need quickly.

“The rising number of call-outs also increases the frequency of traumatic, complex and dangerous incidents attended by team members, which all bring associated impacts on the wellbeing of the team’s volunteers.

MRT_Member_Esgair Felen.jpeg – “Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team member preparing to get lowered and rescue 2 stuck scramblers on Esgair Felen”. Photo : J Kiernan

"While all team members are passionate about volunteering their time to help people in the mountains and dedicate themselves to the training needed to do this safely, balancing this commitment with their personal lives is an increasingly difficult task.

“Our 56 operational team members have done over 8,000 hours of rescue work so far in 2023. On top of this we have to attend regular team trainings, maintain equipment, raise the funds needed to run a charity and many other non-rescue roles too numerous to mention.

“As a group of volunteers we are nearing the limit of what we can do to support those in need in the mountains.”

Snowdon is Britain’s, and possibly the world’s, busiest mountain with more than 500,000 visitors a year.

This has led to Llanberis MRT being the busiest in the country.

There were 100 incidents in 2008 and the team said the huge increase in call-outs over the past 15 years was “an increasingly unsustainable growth rate for a small charity run entirely by volunteers”.

Dr Griffiths added: “In the coming years we will be looking to continue our work with other stakeholders to reduce the number of mountain incidents on Yr Wyddfa and to build our capacity to respond to this increasing demand.

"In the meantime, we continue to encourage walkers and climbers to prepare adequately so that they enjoy their time in the mountains by following the key messages from Adventure Smart UK.”