In the news

Shortly before 9:00 p.m. on Saturday 8th August, call-handlers from Aberdyfi Search & Rescue Team were made aware of a couple lost on Cader Idris.

The man and woman, both from London, were lightly equipped for a day on the mountain, and were unable to provide call-out coordinators with information about their current location or their starting point. The pair were uninjured, but having run out of food and water, were complaining of cold and fatigue. The woman reported feeling faint.

Fortunately, the Team was able to fall-back once again on using the PhoneFind smartphone protocol to quiz the casualties’ phone for location information. They were found to be located on the lower sections of the Foxes path, and were encouraged to keep moving downwards as best they could in order to keep warm, and to speed up their rescue. A party of two Team volunteers made their way up to intercept the pair, and further members followed up as they arrived.

The casualties were intercepted and assessed, and were provided with food, water and warm clothing. Other Team volunteers were put on standby in case a stretcher carry was required, but in the event the pair were able to walk off the hill under their own steam. Everyone was safely off the hill shortly before midnight.

Team volunteer Graham O’Hanlon was part of the rescue operation. “On a hot, clear, sunny day such as we enjoyed on Saturday, it can be tempting to cut back on carried equipment, such as maps, torches, extra clothing, food and water, in order to save weight. However, emergency equipment and supplies are exactly that: there for when things do not go according to plan and you are out longer or later than intended. Simple preparations can make a huge difference to the outcome when things go wrong.”
“There are some great ideas about making your day in the mountains a safer and more enjoyable experience at https://www.adventuresmart.uk/“

AdventureSmartUK | Be Adventure Smart: make your good day betterTogether we can promote clear safety messages, which will encourage and enable people to be AdventureSmart. We have created this toolkit to make it easy for you to help promote the AdventureSmart messages to your customers. This toolkit provides a suite of resources and ideas ready for you to use, so please read on, get busy and let’s get people out enjoying our coast and countryside!www.adventuresmart.uk