At about 1:30 a.m. call-handlers from Aberdyfi Search & Rescue Team received a request from North Wales Police to assist in the extraction of a woman trapped in a precarious position on the hills behind Aberdyfi.

Officers had found the 56 year old Suffolk woman entangled in a wire fence at the top of a steep drop on the hills above the town and, being concerned about the consequences of a slip, had requested MR assistance.

Given the locality, call-handlers went directly to the scene to establish what was required, and with the assistance of the NWP officers, were able to bring the woman to safety.

​At around 3:00 a.m. call-handlers from Aberdyfi Search & Rescue Team were alerted to a man missing from a campsite on the shore of Llyn Tegid.

The man was reported to be depressed and had been drinking heavily through the previous day. He was last seen by friends at around 1:00 a.m. outside his tent, but when checked on later was found to be gone.

The man's friends initiated a search and, when unsuccessful, contacted North Wales Police. Officers searched the campsite, checking tent by tent, and Team volunteers extended the search area to cover adjacent woodland, fields, railway cuttings and the water margins. As dawn broke many of the initial search areas were rechecked, and the Police National Air Support helicopter made a sweep of the lake and its margins.

At around 7:00 a.m. as the initial search phase was drawing to a close, a member of the public found the man, asleep, inside her vehicle around 15 m from his last known position. He had locked himself into the windowless van and so had not been spotted during vehicle searches, and being fast asleep, was oblivious to the activity outside. 

At around 9:00 p.m. call-handlers from the Team were made aware of a couple reporting that they were lost in the failing light on Cader Idris. However, as the first Team volunteers arrived at the Minffordd car-park they discovered that actually a total of 9 people were missing.

A family group of 12 or so had gone up to Llyn Cau, with 8 carrying on up with the intention of doing the Pen y Gader/Mynydd Moel loop and the remainder coming back down to the car-park . Of the 8, two turned back but were benighted and made the call to the Police. They had had intermittent contact with the other 6 by phone, and believed that they too had turned back some time later, having further split up  into a 4 and a 2, but were unaware that they were also still out on the mountain. When nobody returned to the car-park, one of the people there set-off back up the hill with a torch, and returned with the initial 2 as the team was assembling. A member of the public also headed up the hill and came across the 4+2 (now rejoined…are you keeping up?) and this group of 7 was located, safe and well by Team volunteers.
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All were down off the hill by 10:30 p.m

At around 12:45 p.m. call handlers from Aberdyfi Search & Rescue Team were made aware of a walker on Cader Idris who was complaining of chest-pains and shortness of breath.

The 45 year-old man was about 30 minutes into his ascent of the Minffordd Path when he became unwell, but with call handlers unable to contact the party by phone, they had to make a guess at the likely location based on timings. A team member was quickly on scene and able to relay back an accurate location for others to head towards.

Given the potential seriousness of the man's symptoms, a request was made for the Coastguard Helicopter, Rescue 936, to assist. The narrow, wooded nature of the location meant that the helicopter was unable to land, and so the casualty was winched on-board. The remaining members of the man's party were escorted off the mountain by Team volunteers.

At around 3:50 p.m. the Team was requested to assist our neighbouring team, South Snowdonia SaRT, with the search for a vulnerable teenager in the hills above Barmouth.

The teenager was last seen on one of the paths leading from the town onto the surrounding hills, and both teams searched routes that might have been followed from this point. The police helicopter also swept the area. 

With all likely areas covered, the teams were stood down by North Wales Police at around 8:00 p.m. 

At around 2:30 p.m. call-handlers from the Team were alerted to two walkers lost in low cloud on Cader Idris.

The man and woman, both in their 50's and from the Malvern area, had set off up the mountain from Minffordd but had become disorientated in low cloud with visibility down to a few meters at times. Having spent a couple of hours casting around looking for a path, the pair called out Mountain Rescue, but finding themselves on a featureless hill-side with poor visibility, there was little for the rescuers to work with in terms of their location.

While attempts were made to locate the pair via their mobile phone, two hill-parties of Team volunteers started making a sweep of the Pencoed-Penygader-Mynydd Moel circuit, one clockwise, the other anti-clockwise. In a stroke of good fortune given the conditions, the pair were found by one of the few other people on the mountain, and who was able to identify their position to the rescue controller as on the saddle between Penygader and Mynydd Moel. The walker was able to take the pair to the Mynydd Moel fence-line where they were met by the anti-clockwise Mountain Rescue hill-party who were able to escort the pair off the mountain. Everyone was down from the mountain by 7:15 p.m.

Team member Graham O'Hanlon attended the rescue. "The mountains can be an exhilarating place in all kinds of weather conditions, but it is important that, before committing to a route, walkers take a realistic look at the weather forecast and make sure that their skill-set and equipment are more than suitable to the task."