In the news

Shortly before 2:00 p.m. on Sat 7th October, Aberdyfi Search & Rescue
Team received a request from their neighbours at Brecon Mountain Rescue
Team for assistance in reaching an injured mountain-biker at the Bwlch
Nant yr Arian trail-centre; a significant drive for both Teams.

The closest available volunteers deployed directly to the scene and
were able to assist Welsh Ambulance Service crews attending the
injured woman.

Shortly before 4:00 p.m. Team call handlers were then made aware of a
walker with an ankle injury at the head of Lake Vyrnwy, again a
significant drive for most of the Team.

Team vehicles and volunteers were dispatched to the location, and with
some personnel already committed to the incident at Bwlch Nant yr
Arian, a request for support was placed with South Snowdonia Search
and Rescue Team (SSSRT) to bolster numbers.

At around 4:30 p.m., with Aberdyfi and SSSRT vehicles and available
volunteers underway to Lake Vyrnwy, call-handlers were made aware of a
walker with an injured ankle on Cader Idris.

It looked like the injured woman on Cader might be in for a long wait,
but fortunately the first incident of the day was closing down,
freeing up both Aberdyfi volunteers, and those from Brecon MRT who
kindly diverted from their long journey home to provide further
assistance.

Coast Guard helicopter Rescue936, en route to the casualty at Lake
Vyrnwy, was able to divert to Cader Idris to provide a quick pick-off
rescue, delivering the casualty to the landing zone at the foot of the
mountain before continuing onwards to lake Vyrnwy.

“It is highly unusual for us to have 3 overlapping incidents, and
being situated in the farthest corners of our area of operation only
served to exacerbate the situation” , said Team spokesperson Graham
O’Hanlon. “Whilst it is never comfortable to feel like your resources
are starting to be spread too thinly, it is testament to the
organisation and training of Mountain Rescue Teams around the UK, that
we can back-fill and seamlessly support each other when these
situations do arise. It is impressive to see that a volunteer
organisation has this degree of resilience.”