In the afternoon, we received a call to assist a local farmer retrieve his sheepdog, which had fallen into a quarry and was stuck on a ledge. Our Rope Techs arrived on scene and were able to set up a secure rope system which was used to lower a team member safely down to the stuck dog. After some fuss and reassurance from Esther, Gael was raised back up the rest of the team and her owner, ready for a nap and a few less exciting days!
|
we assisted a fell runner who had slipped on wet rocks in the llyfnant valley and was unable to walk. This is just over the border for us, but as many of our team live close by, we were happy to help our friends at Brecon Mountain Rescue Team, and were able to reach the casualty in good time. The casualty had spare clothes, a blizzard bag, a method of raising the alarm for help, and had left a route plan behind, all of which helped. He was cold when we arrived but had he not come prepared with these items, he would have been in a worst state.
We used a splint on the injured ankle, and transferred him onto our stretcher for the walk out of roughly a mile. We have since heard that he has been discharged from hospital with a spiral fracture to his fibular, but avoided the need for surgery. We wish the casualty a speedy recovery, and hope to see him back out on the trails soon, but upright next time! On Saturday afternoon, team members attended a walker on the Aran ridge who had found an injured dog and was struggling to make progress off the hill with her.
The dog, who had sustained a broken leg in a fall on rocky ground, was in considerable pain, but behaved impeccably as Team cas-carers splinted her injury. She was carried a short distance by stretcher to a point where local farmers had managed to reach by quad bike. It would have been an uncomfortable ride down off the mountain, but the quickest way to reach the vet. At 13:30 on Thursday, call handlers from the team received a report of a member of the public who had become disorientated close to the summit of Aran Fawddwy
Attempts to use Phonefind technology were unsuccessful due to issues with them being able to activate location services on their phone. Visual references were used to orientate them and directions were given to walk a fence line to a stile where OS Grid Reference could be obtained. Having a confirmed location enabled the call handler to issue further instructions and provide a direction of travel back to a familiar point. Once back on a familiar path they were able to self extricate off the mountain to their vehicle. We often remark in the team about "predictive training" and immediately following the first training session of 2025 on: Preparedness for Rescues in Winter Conditions we had a call-out with dusk falling and temperatures dropping, we were made aware of a solo walker on Cadair Idris reported as being overdue and uncontactable.
Following initial enquiries by team call handlers, the team were put on standby. Fortunately shortly before deploying team members, notification followed that the individual's car had been picked up by a local ANPR camera. This gave sufficient confidence that they were safely off the hill, and the team members stood down. We were requested for a vehicle stuck in ice on the road to the north of Lake Vyrnwy or possibly on the road over to Bala. Three team members were deployed in the team vehicle but stood down after 20 minutes as a passing motorist had given assistance.
We were requested to rescue 5-6 fox hound dogs that had ran off an edge and got stuck on a ledge on a very steep and difficult area to access in Cwm Cywach valley. Due to the call coming at night, it was decided we'd assess the conditions the following day in the light on Sunday 5th January. Heavy snow was forecast and conditions are known to be bad in the valley
|
Archives
September 2025
|