Shortly after 3:00 p.m. call-handlers from the Team received a request for assistance from Ambulance Control regarding a person believed to have fallen from a coastal cliff at Tonfanau.
Ambulance Control had already contacted the Coastguard and had requested support from the air-ambulance. The Phonefind protocol was used by Team operatives to establish an accurate location for the casualty and this was passed to the Coastguard team attending the incident. Aberdyfi Team was put on standby and both the Ambulance control and Coastguard were made aware that we would call out if required. In the event, Helimed was able to land on the beach and the casualty was transported by air to further care.  

​Just before 4:30 p.m. Team call-handlers were made aware of a female walker lost in the Cregennen lakes area above Arthog.

From around 1:00 p.m. the 63 year old woman from Caernarfon had been walking around the lakes whilst her husband waited at the car-park, but at 2:20 p.m. she phoned him to report that she was fed-up and lost. After this point, all attempts to contact her by phone went straight to answerphone.

As daylight started to fade, and with concerns regarding pre-existing health issues, the husband requested help from Mountain Rescue.

As Team volunteers met up with the husband at Cregennen, call-handlers finally got through on the missing woman's phone; after a long and sometimes challenging journey with neither food or water, she had made her way to Dolgellau. Somewhat shaken and anxious, the woman was otherwise safe and well, and happy to be reunited with her husband.

Everyone was safely off the hill by 5:15 p.m.

Shortly after 2:00 p.m. call-handlers from the Team were made aware of reports of a crag-fast man on Cader Idris.
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The informant reported seeing a man in a red jacket on a ledge above Llyn y Gader, and had thought that the person was shouting for help. The call-handlers were unable to contact the informant for further details and so called-out the Team to make further investigations at the scene.

Two Team volunteers were already out on the mountain and were able to quickly make contact with the informant. Knowing the mountain well, the rescuers realised that the area indicated was part of a popular climbing route, Cyfrwy Arete. Making their way over to the top of the crag, they were able to make contact with two men, one in a red jacket, who were happily enjoying and very pleasant day's climbing. The men reported having neither heard or seen anyone in distress, and it was concluded that infact these were the people who had been spotted, and that the shouting was part of their communication up and down the pitch.

The call-out was concluded to be a false alarm made with good intention.

At around 3:30 p.m.,  call handlers were made aware of two walkers lost in fog on Cader Idris.

The man and woman, from the Welshpool area, had climbed the mountain via the Minffordd Path and having reached the top, took a break in the summit hut. On re emerging from the hut the pair became disorientated in the fog and called for assistance.

Using the PhoneFind protocol to quiz their mobile phone, call-handlers were quickly able to identify that the couple had started to descend the wrong side of the mountain. Verbal instructions were given to steer the pair down the Foxes Path, and a small party of Team volunteers headed up the hill to intercept them.

Everyone was safely off the hill by 4:40 p.m.

​In a prompt start to the year, at 7:30 p.m. on New Year's Day, call-handlers from the Team were made aware of a missing walker whose car had been located at the bottom of Cader Idris.

The man, in his 30's and from Wrexham, had told family that he was walking at Barmouth but at night-fall he had texted to say he was lost. Having checked likely spots in Barmouth for his car, North Wales Police Officers moved their search to Cader Idris and eventually found the man's vehicle in the car-park at Minffordd. The ticket on his car indicated that he had been out on the mountain all day.

With the prospect of a large area search, the Team was immediately called-out. Given the nature of the situation, Search and Rescue Dogs Wales were also requested to supply a trailing dog to help locate the man. 

As Team volunteers were making their way to the mountain, the man fortunately was found by NWP Officers, safe and well and walking back to the car-park.

At 4:30 p.m. the Team was made aware of an abandoned tent on Fegla Fawr.
The informant visited 7 weeks ago. He saw this tent and also saw a man, who appeared to be a bird-watcher carrying binoculars, in the vicinity of the tent but did not speak to the man and cannot be sure he was associated with the tent. Tent now has a lot of litter around it and no sign of a recent fire. The informant did not open the tent. Concerns were raised for well being of any occupant.

A discussion was had with North Wales Police over what response was requested from MR, and it was agreed that an urgent night-time search was disproportionate to the situation. The initial intention was to send a PCSO to investigate in daylight but the team call-handler dealing with the call, and living nearby, offered to investigate the tent the following morning. The tent was found to have been abandoned for some weeks with litter, foam mat, duffle coat and tent having been chewed by animals. There was no signs of recent habitation. The tent and litter were cleared from site by the Team volunteer.

Concerns raised over an apparently poorly equipped male with dog walking up Cader Idris on the edge of darkness. The gentleman with his dog were heading up the Minffordd path and were encountered at the Slate Bridge at around 4:00 p.m. The Informant called police as she felt he looked "down beat" and with the limited equipment he was carrying it raised concerns in her mind.

Team call handlers felt that there was no indication that the male was in need of assistance at this point. He may well have had a torch in a coat pocket, and may just be taking a short dog walk rather than undertaking a mountain epic. Further information indicating the risk of potential harm to the man would be required to initiate a search.​

At around 6:30 p.m. the Team was alerted to a missing walker on Cader Idris

The female holiday-maker had left her accommodation late to climb the mountain. Being poorly equipped and inexperienced, the woman became lost and rang for assistance as night fell.

As the Team was gathering information , a local farmer drove onto the hill on a quad-bike and quickly located the woman.

At around 12:45 a.m.  Team call-handlers were made aware of two walkers lost on Cader Idris. 

The walkers, a 54 year old woman and her 26 year old son, both from Kent, had set out earlier the previous day with the intention of traversing the mountain from Ty Nant via the summit and south ridge to Minffordd. At some point after the summit they lost the south ridge path. They continued descending until the terrain became too difficult to continue.

Speaking to a call-handler they described themselves as "unhurt, just lost," and were able to see what they believed to be the Tal y Llyn lake.

A team vehicle was deployed to Tal y Llyn to show blue lights and look for a response on the hillside. A light was spotted on the hill side in Cwm Amarch and an estimated location was calculated. With this information established, a party of Team volunteers was deployed up the steep slope to locate the casualties. The plan was to walk the pair back down the mountain, but on assessment, the mother was found to be unable to walk due to the aggravation of a pre-existing back problem. Given the steep nature of the terrain, assistance from the Coastguard helicopter, R936, was requested to help with casualty evacuation. The pair were winched aboard the aircraft and flown to Ysbyty Gwynedd for further assessment and treatment.

​Everyone was safely off the hill by 6:30 a.m.

Shortly after 11:00 a.m on Sunday 21st Oct, Team call-handlers were alerted to a woman reported to be having a panic attack in the summit hut on Cader Idris.

With the forecast low cloud, wind and rain well established over the peaks, the woman, in her early 40's, had become anxious over her predicament; with no map or compass to assist, the woman and her brother were unsure in which direction their chosen route lay, and rang for mountain rescue assistance.

With the woman's phone going straight to answerphone or ringing out unanswered, and attempts to locate the party using smartphone protocols not activated by the casualty, the Team had little information to work with. Team volunteers were therefore dispatched up the main routes from Ty Nant and Dol Idris and set about interviewing walkers coming off the mountain. It quickly became apparent that the pair had left the summit hut shortly after calling for help, but it was not clear in which direction they had travelled.

At around 1:20 p.m. North Wales Police reported that they had received a call from the pair saying they had joined up with a larger group, but again attempts to call the casualty or establish their location went unanswered. Drawing a blank trying to locate this larger group, Team volunteers retreated down the hill to man key exit-points and continued to quiz descending walkers.

Somewhere along the way the pair had seemingly split away from the larger group and at around 2:00 p.m., call handlers received a text saying that the pair had been "retracing their ascent route but must have taken a wrong turn" and were lost. Again attempts to call the casualty or establish their location went unanswered. Not knowing what their ascent route had been, Team volunteers had no option but to hold their positions at key exit points and see if the people appeared.

At around 2:20 the couple finally made contact to say they were off the mountain, and they were eventually located on the B4405 at Tal y Llyn by a volunteer making his way home.