At around 1:30 p.m. call-handlers from the Team were made aware of an injured teenager on Cader Idris.

The girl, aged 13, was part of a family group of 6 from Wiltshire who were enjoying the mountain. She went over on her ankle and could no longer support any weight on it.

Using the Phonefind protocol to quiz the informants phone for location details, the group's position was pinpointed quickly and a hasty-party of Team volunteers was dispatched to the scene.

Given the difficulty of the stretcher-carry down Minffordd steps, a request was placed for assistance from the Coastguard helicopter R936. The request was granted and the helicopter arrived on scene shortly afterwards. While the winchman assessed the casualty, R936 flew down to Minffordd to pick up more Team volunteers to assist with moving the casualty.

With the girl and her mother loaded aboard, the pair were flown to Bronglais Hospital, Aberystwyth for further assessment and treatment.

The remainder of the party were helped down off the hill, and everyone was back at Minffordd by 4:20 p.m.

At around 6:40 p.m. call-handlers from the Team were made aware of two walkers lost and struggling to get off the hills near Dinas Mawddwy.

The pair, a mother, 73 and daughter, 39, had been following a walking-book route around Minllan quarries. At some point they became lost and had been on the hill for around 9 h when they finally called for assistance.

Using the Phonefind protocol which quizzes the casualty's mobile phone for location information, call handlers were quickly able to identify the group's position.  With good landmarks and a public footpath to follow, the prospects looked good for describing an exit route by phone so that the pair could self-rescue. As a precaution, two Team volunteers were dispatched to meet the walkers as they came off the hill. However, conditions on the ground were challenging, and the lost walkers were greatly hampered by deep bracken and gorse, and though remaining on the course described to them, the elder of the two became exhausted trying to make progress.

Team members met up with the younger woman who had made it through to better terrain and were able to assist the older lady off the hill.

Everyone was safely back at their cars by 8:15 p.m.

Shortly after 1:00 p.m. the Team received a request for assistance from the Welsh Ambulance Service Trust to help in the rescue of an injured female.

The woman, in her early 40's and from the London area, was part of a family group enjoying a woodland walk at Tan y Coed near Machynlleth. Whilst exploring a stream, she lost her footing on slippery stones and landed heavily onto rocks, injuring her back. An ambulance was called, and the crew was able to locate and provide pain relief, but the nature of the path was such that they required assistance to transport the casualty. Team volunteers loaded the casualty onto a wheeled stretcher, and the lady was transported safely to the waiting ambulance.

​Everyone was safely back at vehicles by 3:00 p.m.

Just before 7:30 p.m. on Friday 2nd August, call handlers from the Team were made aware of a party of 3 people lost on Cader Idris.

The couple, in their 20's, and their 6 year old child, reported that they had been lost on the mountain since 3:00 p.m. They had ascended the Pony Path and reached the summit, but with no real concept of the layout of their environment and none of the equipment needed to negotiate it, they were largely working on recommendations from passers-by. Ultimately they found themselves descending the scree-gully adjacent to the Foxes path, a steep and loose slope, and panicked. They managed to get themselves down to Llyn y Gadair at the foot of the scree, but were sufficiently shaken up by their experience as to be unable to proceed from that position. 

Using Phonefind, a protocol that obtains location data from the casualty's phone, the Team was able to locate the walkers and a hasty-party of Team volunteers was dispatched to meet up with them. The group was provided with warm clothing, food and water, and the group was escorted down off the mountain via the Foxes path. 

A further group of rescuers, carrying more clothing and lighting, met up with the party a little lower down the hill to help with the walk-off.
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Everyone was safely off the mountain by 10:30 p.m.

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.