Shortly before 9:30 p.m., and midway through a Team committee meeting, call-handlers from the Team were made aware of an unusual light spotted on Cader Idris.
Concerns were raised by a person living in the Minffordd area over the light, which had been seen continuously from around 5:00 p.m. until the cloudbase fell far enough to obscure the view at around 9:00 p.m.
Team volunteer Graham O'Hanlon attended the incident. "Lights on the mountain are not that unusual, particularly at this time of year. When walkers are appropriately equipped with navigational tools and torches, they can enjoy the hills safely long after dark. However this light was situated away from the principle routes up and down the mountain, and although the weather was largely calm and bright, it not an obvious choice for wild camping. Unusually in this instance the bright light was completely stationary and situated high above a farm at the foot of the mountain."
"By the time we were alerted to the issue it had been wholly night for some hours, but the light had continued to shine around. Team volunteers wisely started the investigations by establishing that all the shepherds and flocks were accounted for, and that nothing unusual was happening in the cowsheds, but all was calm."
"As the initial parties made their up the hill to investigate the source, the light, which up to this point had been wreathed in mist, cleared the cloud and shone on high."
"Having the first opportunity to see the light for ourselves, it became clear what we were looking at, and we were so surprised we needed to check it twice. Viewing the scene by binoculars we could see that on the very top of the ridge, overlooking the Tal-y Llyn pass, a couple of trees had been spruced-up with solar fairy lights. There was no one obviously present under the trees.
"We left the lights in place as they are not our property. Although they look nice, it is a little naughty to be leaving equipment like that on the mountain, and we will monitor the situation. We would hope that the lights are removed by 6th of Jan, if only to stop the goblins coming!"
"This incident turned out to be a well-intentioned false alarm, but we are always happy to go and investigate concerns, and were quite amused by this one"
16 volunteers attended the incident, and everyone was safely down off the hill shortly after midnight.
Concerns were raised by a person living in the Minffordd area over the light, which had been seen continuously from around 5:00 p.m. until the cloudbase fell far enough to obscure the view at around 9:00 p.m.
Team volunteer Graham O'Hanlon attended the incident. "Lights on the mountain are not that unusual, particularly at this time of year. When walkers are appropriately equipped with navigational tools and torches, they can enjoy the hills safely long after dark. However this light was situated away from the principle routes up and down the mountain, and although the weather was largely calm and bright, it not an obvious choice for wild camping. Unusually in this instance the bright light was completely stationary and situated high above a farm at the foot of the mountain."
"By the time we were alerted to the issue it had been wholly night for some hours, but the light had continued to shine around. Team volunteers wisely started the investigations by establishing that all the shepherds and flocks were accounted for, and that nothing unusual was happening in the cowsheds, but all was calm."
"As the initial parties made their up the hill to investigate the source, the light, which up to this point had been wreathed in mist, cleared the cloud and shone on high."
"Having the first opportunity to see the light for ourselves, it became clear what we were looking at, and we were so surprised we needed to check it twice. Viewing the scene by binoculars we could see that on the very top of the ridge, overlooking the Tal-y Llyn pass, a couple of trees had been spruced-up with solar fairy lights. There was no one obviously present under the trees.
"We left the lights in place as they are not our property. Although they look nice, it is a little naughty to be leaving equipment like that on the mountain, and we will monitor the situation. We would hope that the lights are removed by 6th of Jan, if only to stop the goblins coming!"
"This incident turned out to be a well-intentioned false alarm, but we are always happy to go and investigate concerns, and were quite amused by this one"
16 volunteers attended the incident, and everyone was safely down off the hill shortly after midnight.
