At around 5:30 p.m. on Tues 16th July a woman posted on Facebook that she had found a man on Cader Idris with no food and in a dehydrated state and that she needed help. The post was spotted by one of the woman's friends who alerted North Wales Police, who in turn contacted Aberdyfi Search & Rescue Team call-handlers.

Initial inquiries and strategies did not provide any further information about the location, and attempts to contact the informant’s phone repeatedly would not connect. With little information to work with, it was decided to send a hasty party of Team volunteers up the Minffordd path and also the Pony Path; the mountain was reasonably busy so it was hoped that these parties would either encounter the casualty or speak to someone who had seen where they were.

As volunteers were making their way to the foot of the mountain, North Wales Police were informed that the woman and her partner had managed to walk the man down to the Minffordd car park where she had managed to find a phone signal. The hasty-parties were stood down, but a small number of volunteers continued to Minffordd to assess the casualty and arrange further help if required.

As Team volunteers spoke with the casualty, a man in his 50’s and from the Caerphilly area, a confused picture emerged; it seemed that the man had travelled to the area with a friend by bus, and had camped on the mountain the previous night. He had last seen his friend near the summit shortly after 9:00 a.m. and for some reason the pair had gone in different directions shortly afterwards. The man could not supply contact details for his friend, although did provide a home address for his parents in Caerphilly.

Given the time elapsed since the two went their separate ways, it was unclear whether the second man was still on the mountain. Team volunteers checked likely routes that the man might be walking into town, and North Wales and Gwent Police forces made enquiries based on home address information. Shortly after 9:00 p.m. the Police were able to contact a relative and confirm that the second man was safe and at his home address.

Everyone was heading homewards by 9:20 p.m.

Shortly after 4:15 p.m. the Team was requested to assist in the search for three children lost in open ground north of Tywyn.

The children, all under 13 years old, had crossed the Bailey Bridge coming south and had then got lost amongst the field systems, reporting themselves "trapped by ditches."

Team volunteers joined one of the parents and North Wales Police Officers in the search, and with only a few places likely to match the description, the group was quickly located.

At around 4:15 p.m. on Thurs 4th July, call-handlers were made aware of an injured woman just above the Minffordd steps on Cader Idris.
 
The woman, in her late 60's and from the Aberystwyth area, was part of a small group intending to walk to Llyn Cau. At around 8:00 a.m., and very shortly into their journey, the lady slipped and landed heavily, jarring her back. After taking a few moments to recover, the lady pressed on with her journey up the mountain, but as the day wore on she developed pain in her upper leg which grew progressively worse, particularly after a stop for lunch. It became increasingly difficult to bear weight on the leg and their progress off the mountain became very slow. Passers-by assisted the lady to a great extent, but it became evident that the steep terrain of the Minffordd steps was going to be a significant problem and a call was placed for Mountain Rescue.
 
After discussion with and assessment of the casualty by Team volunteers, it was decided that the best course of action would be to stretcher-carry her down the steep ground, an awkward process given the steep, rocky and narrow nature of the path. Twelve volunteers were involved in the evacuation process and everyone was safely down off the mountain by 7:15 p.
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The lady was driven by friends to Bronglais Hospital for further assessment and treatment.

At about 8:45 p.m. and midway through a technical rope rescue training session, Team call-handlers were alerted to a man struggling on the descent from Cader Idris.

The 84 year old man, from Stratford upon Avon and part of a well equipped family group of three, was struggling in the increasing strong winds that built through the evening, and the party were making little headway down the hill. Using Phonefind, a smartphone protocol, the group's position was identified as about a kilometer away from the car-park, and they were encouraged to proceed in that direction as the Team's response was built.

A hasty party of 3 rescue volunteers headed up to meet the group as other Team members derigged the training session, and from early assessments it was clear that although uninjured, the levels of fatigue was such that progress was going to be extremely slow. With this in mind a second wave of rescuers was dispatched with extra lighting and the stretcher to be used if required.

With a great deal of assistance, the man made it down to Ty Nant on foot, and everyone was safely back at the car-park by 11:30 p.m.

At around 7:30 p.m. call handlers from South Snowdonia Search & Rescue Team were made aware of a group of three walkers lost in poor weather in the Team's area. The description the lost walkers provided was sufficiently vague as to not identify which hill they were actually on, and the team spent considerable effort and time trying to pinpoint their location.

When contact was finally made with the group, a woman and two men, it transpired that they were in the summit hut on Cader Idris and the rescue was handed on to Aberdyfi Search & Rescue Team. A party of 4 Team volunteers made their way up the mountain with warm dry clothing for the lightly equipped group and the party was led back down to safety.
​Everyone was down off the hill by 00.21 a.m.

At about 2:30 p.m. call-handlers from the Team were made aware of a walker having seizures near the summit of Cader Idris. The 59 year old man, part of a group of 7 climbing the mountain, was taken ill a few hundred metres short of the summit of Pen y Gader. 

Given the seriousness of his condition, assistance was requested from the Coastguard helicopter R936, but it it quickly became clear that the cloud-base was too low for the helicopter to reach the casualty site. The only option was for mountain rescue volunteers to make there way on foot to the casualty, and to carry him down to a position where the helicopter could then evacuate him. 

R936 landed in Dolgellau and picked up a team of rescuers to fly them as close as possible tot he casualty site. This was the first of 3 such uplifts to place rescuers and equipment on the mountain. 

Having reached the ill man, rescuers made further assessments which confirmed the seriousness of the situation. As the man's companions, cold and wet, were escorted down from the mountain by Team volunteers, other were preparing the casualty for a stretcher carry down to a suitable landing site.

As the transport process was about to begin, it became clear that there were occasional breaks in the cloud cover. This information was passed to R936 who were standing-by at Minffordd, and the crew decided to get airbourne to see what opportunities might be available. The helicopter inched its way up through the mist and was able to reach the casualty site and land. The man was quickly loaded aboard before the gaps in the cloud closed again and R936 made a quick exit, getting down safely below the cloud-base before taking the casualty to Ysbyty Gwynedd for further assessment and treatment. Everyone was safely down off the hill by 9:00 p.m. 

Graham O'Hanlon was present at the casualty site. "We were facing a long, slow and difficult stretcher-carry with a seriously ill casualty, so were very happy to see R936 emerge from the mist. We are extremely grateful to the crew of Coastguard R936 who gave us fantastic support throughout this operation and pulled off what looked like quite a remarkable piece of flying to reach our position."

Twenty three volunteers from the Team were involved in the 6.5 hour operation.

Shortly after 10 p.m., Team call-handlers were made aware of lights flashing on the summit of Cader Idris.

From previous experience, people enjoying the mountain by torchlight are not uncommon, and the motions of a head torch as walkers move around can appear as a purposeful flashing from a distance. The summit area also has a good phone signal, and no distress calls had been received. A final clue was that a local outdoor education centre had a group at the summit shelter. 

​It was concluded that the report was a false alarm with good intent and the Team was stood down.

​At around 4:15 p.m. on Tuesday 14th May, call-handlers from the Team were made aware of an injured teenager on Cader idris.

The 15 year-old male walker was part of a local outdoor education group hiking on the mountain. Having reached the summit, the party were starting their descent from Mynydd Moel when the walker stumbled and sustained an injury to his right ankle.

With the prospect of a long and problematic stretcher carry over difficult terrain, a request was made by the Team for assistance from the Coastguard helicopter, R936. The aircraft was already in the air on a training exercise, and was quickly on scene as Team volunteers gathered at the foot of the mountain to assist. The casualty and a teacher from the group were airlifted and flown to hospital for further assessment and treatment.

A party of team members made their way up the mountain to meet up with the remaining group members and help them to get safely down off the mountain. Everyone was down at the carpark by 7:40 p.m.

At around 7:20 p.m. Team call-handlers were made aware of a lost walker.
The informant had stated that he was working at the "tearooms at the waterfall", and reported that a caller had made contact saying that he was lost in the mountains. Team activity was underway to to try and flesh-out this very limited information, and a full-team standby had been issued, when it was reported that the man had been brought to safety by a local farmer. It is thought that the location was in the vicinity of Pistyll Rhaeadr.

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.