Aberdyfi Search And Rescue Team

Injured Farmer near Mynydd Rhyd Galed

24/2/2015

At around 12.30 p.m. the Team was contacted by NWP who reported a local farmer injured after rolling his quad-bike near Mynydd Rhyd Galed, above Pennal. The request for assistance had come from the Ambulance Service.

The Team was put on Standby while a clearer picture was sought and one of the Team Leaders set out to drive up to the incident site to determine what further help was required by the attendant ambulance crew. The man was thought to have a broken hip/femur and the RAF Sea King helicopter, Rescue 122, was requested by the paramedics at the scene.

With the casualty en-route to hospital the Team was stood down.

Injured walker above Sylfaen Farm

16/2/2015

At around 11:45 a.m. the Team was requested to help our neighbouring Team, South Snowdonia Search & Rescue Team, with an injured walker.

The man, a 39 year-old from Wyndham in Norfolk was part of a 9 person Air-Cadet group enjoying a day in the mountains. Whilst crossing a steep slope the man had slipped and dislocated his knee.

Volunteers from both Teams made it to the casualty immediately prior to the arrival of the Rescue 122 Sea-King from RAF Valley. The casualty was moved to a stretcher and winched aboard the aircraft for transport to hospital based care.

The remaining leader escorted the party back to their vehicle, and everyone was off the mountain by about 2:00 p.m.

Sheep-dog stuck in Pennal Quarry

15/2/2015

At about 10:30 a.m. on Sun 15th Feb, Aberdyfi Search & Rescue Team was alerted to a sheep-dog who had become stuck on a quarry ledge near Pennal.

The trainee sheep-dog, called Jim, was being worked on the adjacent hillside and had been given the instruction to come straight back to the shepherd. Unfortunately he took the instruction just a bit too literally and ran into the quarry below rather than tracking around the edge. Having dropped through gorse bushes which probably served to break his fall, he had come to rest on a small ledge about a third of the way down the quarry face.

The Team lowered a rescuer down to the ledge, and Jim was placed in a large sack purpose-made for rescuing sheep and dogs. Once safely inside, the dog and rescuer continued their journey to the bottom of the quarry where Jim was reunited with his shepherd.

Everyone was safely off the hill in time for the rugby.

Snow-Bound Motorists above Bala

2/2/2015

At 11:50 a.m. Aberdyfi Search & Rescue Team was made aware of a snow-bound car in the hills east of Bala.

The driver, a woman from Slimbridge in Gloucestershire, and her elderly male companion, were about 6 miles along the unclassified road between Bala and Lake Vyrnwy when they became stuck in snow.

The incident was initially dealt with by North Wales Police, and the Police air support helicopter was on standby to assist in the search. With difficult conditions blocking access to the stranded car, it was decided to request assistance from Mountain Rescue.

As the newly winterised Team Land Rover was being prepared for the task, a local farmer managed to free the car and the Team was stood down.

Injured Mountain Biker at Arthog

28/1/2015

Transferring the casualty.

At around 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Aberdyfi Search & Rescue Team was made aware of an injured mountain biker on a bridleway above the village of Arthog on the Mawddach Estuary.

The rider, a forty-one year old man from Flintshire, had gone over his handlebars on the steep track and sustained a serious injury to his elbow. The incident also triggered severe cramps in both legs leaving him unable to walk out. The man's riding partner, a friend of the Team, was able to pin- point their location, and ASART volunteers living locally were quickly on site.

The elbow injury was stabilised and then the casualty was carried a short distance to the end of the track where an ambulance was able to convey him to hospital-based care. His elbow turned out to be dislocated but not broken.

Everyone was safely off the hill by 3:30 p.m.

Three Walkers Lost on Cadair Idris

7/1/2015

The new Team van saves the day!

At 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon volunteers from Aberdyfi Search and Rescue Team were made aware of three walkers lost on Cadair Idris.

The three men, all from the Merseyside area, had started in reasonable weather mid-morning, but encountered strong winds and heavy rain as they got higher on the mountain. They became disorientated in the poor weather and failing daylight, lost the path they intended to follow and although making their way down, had no idea as to their location. Calling North Wales Police to request assistance, the men reported that they had taken shelter in a shepherds hut on the mountain.

Team members knew of only a few locations fitting the description given and the SARLOC protocol was sent to the walker's mobile phone in an attempt to confirm the exact location. SARLOC makes use of the GPS function on a casualty's smart-phone, and can send an accurate grid-reference directly to the Team. Unfortunately the men's phone-signal did not have a good enough data connection for SARLOC to work, but a phone conversation with the call-handler helped identify their location. "It took patience and good local knowledge to work out their position" said Team Leader Dave Williams, "and it was a credit to all involved that with only scant information we got the location right first time"

The men turned out to be in a shelter close to one of the farm tracks above Llanfihangel-y-Pennant and so it was decided to pick them up using the Teams new 4-wheel drive vehicle. The men were safely recovered and returned to their car at Talyllyn by 6:30 p.m. "It has taken us a number of years to raise funds for the new Team van, so it is good to see it earning its keep already" added Dave.

Eleven Dogs Rescued from Plynlumon Gorge

14/12/2014

On the evening of Saturday 13th December, Aberdyfi Search & Rescue Team were made aware of eleven dogs trapped in a gorge on the Plynlumon range near Aberystwyth. The dogs belong to a local hound pack who were on the hillside for a trailing exercise. The pack had scrambled into the gorge but, having reached the bottom, could not climb back up the steep and slippery rocks. With darkness already fallen the decision was ...made to postpone any attempts at a rescue until daylight in order to avoid any unnecessary risk to the rescue team volunteers.

With an early start, and braving some appalling weather conditions, fifteen members of the Team gathered near Bwlch y Garreg, Aberhosan to start extracting the dogs. Assisted by some of the pack owners, a small team of rescuers abseiled into the gorge and loaded each dog into a canvas sack in order to be hauled out. After 14 trips down into the gorge, and just before nightfall, all eleven dogs had been recovered unharmed, making for a long, tiring but ultimately quite satisfying day for the Team. 'We've rescued plenty of dogs over the years' said ASART volunteer Glyn Davies, 'but eleven in one go has to be something of a record for the team.' The dogs were reunited with their owners waiting at the top of the gorge.

Team Leader Chris Dunn helped co-ordinate the operation. "The rescue of dogs, whether they belong to visitors or local farmers, is a fairly common occurrence for the Team. Volunteers are made fully aware of the nature of the call-out, so can make their own choices about involvement, but we invariably have an extremely good response, as was the case on Sunday."

"Many volunteers arrived with pockets full of dog-biscuits, which was probably not ideal given the heavy rain, but ultimately well received down at the bottom of the gorge."

"Such events also give us an excellent chance to practice our technical rope rescue skills, and with a number of trainee members in attendance the day provided an excellent learning opportunity" added Chris.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-mid-wales-30491597

Team in Multi-Agency Mine Rescue

6/12/2014

After a relatively quiet few weeks, volunteers from Aberdyfi Search and Rescue Team (ASART) were back in action on Saturday night in a multi-agency rescue at a disused mine near Tal y Bont, south of Machynlleth.

At around 7:40 p.m. the team was alerted by Dyfed-Powys Police to a party of 2 mine-explorers in their 70’s who were in difficulty underground. Some eight different rescue agencies, including cave and mine rescue teams and specialist paramedics attended the subsequent rescue, which went on well beyond midnight.

ASART was tasked with stretchering the casualties from the pit-head over steep and broken ground down to waiting ambulances once they had been brought to the surface by other teams. Equipment was put in place on the hill-side in anticipation of their arrival, but as the night wore on, the casualties became recuperated enough to take an active role in their own rescue underground, and were sufficiently recovered to walk off the hill unassisted once they had reached the surface.

Everyone was safely off the hill by 1:00 a.m. and most Team members had made it home by 2:30 a.m. on Sunday.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-mid-wales-30366818

Lost Walkers on Cadair Idris

20/9/2014

Stock Photo

At about 7:30 p.m. call-handlers from Aberdyfi Search & Rescue Team were alerted to two lost walkers on Cadair Idris, one of whom was experiencing problems with an injured knee.

The two walkers, a man and woman in their 20's and from the Birmingham area, had set out from Minffordd earlier in the day, but had become disorientated in poor visibility on the upper ridges of the mountain and had unintentionally descended on the north side rather than the south side of the range. Their passage through increasingly broken ground had started to aggravate an existing injury in the mans knee, and when darkness fell they sensibly decided to seek assistance from Mountain Rescue.

Call-handlers were able to deploy the SARLOC application which is able to quiz the casualties smartphones for its GPS location, and got an exact position for the couple. A small party of ASART volunteers was then able to make their way directly to casualties' location. The pair were escorted down off the mountain to Gwernan Lake, a slow process given the tussock and gorse-covered nature of the hillside, and everyone was off the hill by 11:00 p.m.

Head and Leg Injury at Cwmystwyth

6/9/2014

(stock photo)

At about 6:30 p.m. on Saturday evening, Aberdyfi SART call-handlers were alerted via North Wales Police and Dyfed-Powys Police to a seriously injured man at Cwmystwyth, south of Devil's Bridge in Powys.

The man was reported to have fallen from rocks on the top of a hill, sustaining a significant head injury which left him unconscious for 10 minutes, and also a suspected broken leg. The Team was put on standby but given the seriousness of the injuries and the time it would take the Team to assemble at the location, the possibility of air-evacuation was investigated.

The scene was attended by the air ambulance and a Dyfed-Powys Police support helicopter, but with neither craft having winching capability, and the casualty in a difficult to reach position, the assistance of the RAF 122 Sea-King was sought.

The Sea King was delayed through operational reasons, but still able to attend quicker than the volunteers of ASART would have been able to reach the scene. At around 8:00 p.m. the man was winched into Rescue 122 and given the potential nature of his injuries, was transferred to hospital in Stoke. The Team was stood-down once he was aboard the aircraft.

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