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.

Just before 3 a.m., Team call-handlers were made aware of a man missing from home in the Dolgellau area.

The man had disappeared from his home address following a domestic dispute, and had left a note and social media posts that led family and friends to believe he intended to self-harm.

Initial searches by North Wales Police had drawn a blank, and the Team was put on standby to begin searching at first light. Fortunately the man returned to his home address unharmed shortly after the call went out, and the Team stood down again.

​Just before 5:00 p.m. on Sunday 7th October, Team were requested to help the Welsh Ambulance Service attend to an injured woman on Cader Idris, near Dolgellau.

The 76 year old woman, from Sutton Coldfield, was part of a walking group making its way down the Pony Path from a successful trip to the summit. She had tripped and fallen forward onto both arms which had given way and resulted in her banging her head on the floor. With both arms injured and with considerable pain from suspected fractures, the lady was unable to continue on foot, and assistance from the Coastguard helicopter R936 was requested by the Team call-handler.

Team volunteers reached the casualty and found the lady cold but in good spirits. R936 arrived on scene shortly afterwards and Team members assisted the winchman paramedic in treating and preparing her for evacuation by helicopter. She was flown to Ysbyty Gwynedd for further assessment and treatment. Team members and the remaining members of the walking group were safely off the hill by 8:30 p.m.

At around 4:30 p.m. Team call-handlers were made aware of a couple lost on the hills above Dinas Mawddwy.

The couple, in their early 50's, were uninjured but had become disorientated on the plateau of Foel Dinas. A good phone signal meant that a discussion could be had about their journey so far, and any landmarks they could see. The use of the SARLOC protocol to quiz their phone for its location gave the final confirmation of their location.

With this information, the call-handler was able to give verbal instructions to direct the pair to a suitable exit point from the plateau. In the meantime, two more volunteers set off walking up to meet them.

​Everyone was safely down off the hill by 6:15 p.m.

At around 4:40 p.m. as the cyclist rescue was coming to a close, the Team was made aware of a couple lost on Cader Idris.

​In a replay of yesterday's lost walkers, the couple were located using the Findphone protocol and were directed verbally to features on the mountain that they could follow to safety.

Just after 3:00 p.m. the Team was requested to assist a Welsh Ambulance Service crew with the transportation of an injured cyclist.

The man, in his early forties and from Kent, had lost control of his bike on a steep and slippery section of road above Arthog, near Dolgellau, and he had hit the adjacent dry stone wall injuring his chest and back.

​Team volunteers helped transport the man by stretcher into a nearby field where he was picked up by Coastguard R187 and flown to Bronglais hospital for further assessment and treatment.

Just before 2:00 p.m., Team call-handlers were made of a collapsed female on Cader Idris

The 16 year old was part of a large outdoor education centre group walking on the Foxes Path On Cader Idris near Dolgellau. She had taken a small tumble of the loose and steep ground and was badly shaken but appeared otherwise unhurt.  A number of other factors then came into play, which likely included the poor weather and physical location of the incident, and the casualty started to deteriorate and lose consciousness. A second 16 year old female from the same group also started to deteriorate and display signs of hypothermia.

Mountain rescue volunteers arrived on scene to stabilise the situation, and to co-ordinate the response of the Coastguard helicopter R936. Despite thick mist and driving rain, the aircraft was able to find a way in under the cloudbase and in seperate actions winched both girls aboard. The two casualties were flown to Bronglais Hospital, Aberystwyth, for further assessment and treatment.

The rest of the group were assisted off the hill, and everyone was back at their vehicles by 7.00 p.m.

The Team would like to thank the Maritime & Coastguard Agency R936 crew for their exceptional work in very challenging conditions, and also South Snowdonia Search & Rescue Team who assisted us in this rescue.

Aberdyfi Team Leader Chris Dunn was pleased with the operation. "This was a good example of the seamless inter-team and inter-agency working as the requirements of the incident escalated. It is what we plan and train for."

At around 4:20 p.m., and while Team volunteers were dealing with the collapsed teenagers on the Cader Idris, Team call-handlers were informed of a pair of walkers also lost on the mountain.

The pair, both soaked to the skin, were attempting to navigate the mountain using Google Maps but the intermittent phone signal and lack of topographical detail on this resource meant that they were unable to find a way through steep ground and called for help.

A Team call handler was able to pinpoint their location using a Phonefind protocol to quiz their smartphone, and was able to give verbal directions using map-features to guide them back onto the correct route. Fortunately resources did not need to be diverted from the serious incident unfolding a short distance higher up the mountain.