The (Very) Early Days
North Wales has attracted those who love the mountains since time immemorial[i]. The first documented ascent of Yr Wyddfa (or Snowdon) was by the botanist Thomas Johnson in 1639 and by 1896 traffic on the mountain was sufficiently heavy to inspire the building of the mountain railway to the summit.[ii] Closer to home, Cader Idris was similarly experiencing the attentions of early travelers: by the late 1700s men of the area were advertising their services as guides to the local beauty-spots including the summit of the mountain[iii] and a summit hut was built, at the latest by 1827, by one such enterprising family of guides. This locked structure was made available to their clients for shelter, dining and to enable them to witness the sunrise without making the journey in the dark.[iv]
With increasing visitor numbers came the increased probability of a mishap occurring, and during the years of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, this was not helped by growing interest in the sport of rock-climbing. The Climbers' Club was formed in 1898 by a group of “professional” gentlemen mountaineers who had the means to travel to the Welsh Hills to rock climb[v], and George Mallory, lost on the 1924 Everest Expedition, pioneered some of the early North Wales climbing routes in the years preceding the First World War.[vi]
In 1903, the death of 4 climbers in the Lake District, in what was to become known as the “Scafell Disaster,” shook the climbing community and shone a light on the rising tide of injuries, and the lack of equipment to deal with them.[vii] Many climbing clubs maintained Huts close to the key climbing areas, and stashes of rescue equipment were stored and maintained by the clubs themselves with the emphasis very much on party-members taking on responsibility for any injured members within their group.
Arnold Lunn, mountaineer, ski-pioneer and son of the Lunn Poly travel company founder Sir Henry Lunn, was climbing on the Cyfrwy ridge of Cader Idris in 1909, when a dislodged rock precipitated a tumbling fall of 100 feet or more. The broken leg he suffered in the rapid descent to a small ledge above a vertical drop dogged him for much of his subsequent mountaineering career. In his memoir[viii] he describes shouting and shouting for help, and that “the twenty minutes which passed before I heard an answering cry were the longest of my life.” Viewed from the distance of time, two things from this incident are remarkable: firstly ,surviving such a fall, and secondly, waiting only 20 min before the alarm was raised. This suggests a busy and popular mountain, not a remote wilderness.
In 1936 the First Aid Committee of Mountaineering Clubs was created from representatives of the individual clubs and bodies with allied interests such as the Ramblers Federation and the Youth Hostel Association. The group started the process of establishing more formal mountain rescue “posts” where key rescue and first-aid equipment was stored for use by anyone. A levy was drawn from the affiliated clubs to fund its activities.
Meanwhile, back in North Wales, the tide of mountain-related injuries was continuing its seemingly inexorable rise. In 1949, when morphine was finally approved for inclusion within the Rescue Post inventory, the Ogwen Valley Post was one of only two in Britain to be allocated a double sized supply (the other being Glencoe) in respect of the frequency of incidents in that area.[ix]
North Wales has attracted those who love the mountains since time immemorial[i]. The first documented ascent of Yr Wyddfa (or Snowdon) was by the botanist Thomas Johnson in 1639 and by 1896 traffic on the mountain was sufficiently heavy to inspire the building of the mountain railway to the summit.[ii] Closer to home, Cader Idris was similarly experiencing the attentions of early travelers: by the late 1700s men of the area were advertising their services as guides to the local beauty-spots including the summit of the mountain[iii] and a summit hut was built, at the latest by 1827, by one such enterprising family of guides. This locked structure was made available to their clients for shelter, dining and to enable them to witness the sunrise without making the journey in the dark.[iv]
With increasing visitor numbers came the increased probability of a mishap occurring, and during the years of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, this was not helped by growing interest in the sport of rock-climbing. The Climbers' Club was formed in 1898 by a group of “professional” gentlemen mountaineers who had the means to travel to the Welsh Hills to rock climb[v], and George Mallory, lost on the 1924 Everest Expedition, pioneered some of the early North Wales climbing routes in the years preceding the First World War.[vi]
In 1903, the death of 4 climbers in the Lake District, in what was to become known as the “Scafell Disaster,” shook the climbing community and shone a light on the rising tide of injuries, and the lack of equipment to deal with them.[vii] Many climbing clubs maintained Huts close to the key climbing areas, and stashes of rescue equipment were stored and maintained by the clubs themselves with the emphasis very much on party-members taking on responsibility for any injured members within their group.
Arnold Lunn, mountaineer, ski-pioneer and son of the Lunn Poly travel company founder Sir Henry Lunn, was climbing on the Cyfrwy ridge of Cader Idris in 1909, when a dislodged rock precipitated a tumbling fall of 100 feet or more. The broken leg he suffered in the rapid descent to a small ledge above a vertical drop dogged him for much of his subsequent mountaineering career. In his memoir[viii] he describes shouting and shouting for help, and that “the twenty minutes which passed before I heard an answering cry were the longest of my life.” Viewed from the distance of time, two things from this incident are remarkable: firstly ,surviving such a fall, and secondly, waiting only 20 min before the alarm was raised. This suggests a busy and popular mountain, not a remote wilderness.
In 1936 the First Aid Committee of Mountaineering Clubs was created from representatives of the individual clubs and bodies with allied interests such as the Ramblers Federation and the Youth Hostel Association. The group started the process of establishing more formal mountain rescue “posts” where key rescue and first-aid equipment was stored for use by anyone. A levy was drawn from the affiliated clubs to fund its activities.
Meanwhile, back in North Wales, the tide of mountain-related injuries was continuing its seemingly inexorable rise. In 1949, when morphine was finally approved for inclusion within the Rescue Post inventory, the Ogwen Valley Post was one of only two in Britain to be allocated a double sized supply (the other being Glencoe) in respect of the frequency of incidents in that area.[ix]
Flight Lieutenant G.D. Graham, is credited with a prominent role in the creation of the RAF MRS
North Wales may also lay claim to another thread of Britain’s Mountain Rescue’s back story, with the RAF developing many of the foundations of the modern concept when they formalised the RAF Mountain Rescue Service in Jan 1944. Based initially at RAF Llandwrog, Caernarfon, moving to RAF Llanbedr shortly afterwards, and then in 1949 to RAF Valley on Anglesey, the Team covered aircraft crash-site security and casualty recovery, tasks that the modern RAF teams still undertake from different bases across the UK.[ix] As the years rolled forwards the Valley Team became increasingly involved in civilian rescue and, being a full-time organisation, were contributors to the formalisation of civilian MR within North Wales. They remain a key resource in search and rescue provision within the area.
Meanwhile, a little way down the coast at Aberdyfi (then Aberdovey), the Outward Bound Sea School was also in operation. With the heavy losses of shipping during the early years of the Second World War, it had been noted that when ships were torpedoed and crews went into the water or into lifeboats, it was not the fit and strong youngsters who best survived the ordeal, but more often the savvy old-hands. It was considered that the life-experiences and skills accumulated by these more worldly crew members served them well in a crisis. In 1941 the Outward Bound (the nautical term for a ship leaving safe harbour for the open sea) Sea School was opened to teach young crew members survival skills, team-work and other character-building activities. Capt. J. F. "Freddy" Fuller took over the leadership of the Aberdyfi School in 1942 and served the Outward Bound movement as senior warden until 1971. Fuller himself had been torpedoed twice and, in charge of an open lifeboat, survived adrift in Atlantic for thirty-five days without losing a single member of crew.[x]
In 1946 an educational charity, named The Outward Bound Trust, was established to continue operating and expanding the scheme which still operates today.[xi]
In 1946 an educational charity, named The Outward Bound Trust, was established to continue operating and expanding the scheme which still operates today.[xi]
sublimewales.wordpress.com/local-services/guides/guides-to-snowdon-cader-idris-and-pumlumon/
[BACK]
[[i] https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7161991/Black-white-pictures-Victorian-rock-climbers-Lake-District-Wales-Scotland.html?ito=link_share_article-image-share#i-64883d4477288d71
[ii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowdon
[iii] https://sublimewales.wordpress.com/local-services/guides/guides-to-snowdon-cader-idris-and-pumlumon/
[iv] https://sublimewales.wordpress.com/local-services/guides/guides-to-snowdon-cader-idris-and-pumlumon/
[v] https://www.climbers-club.co.uk/club-and-hut-history/
[vi] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mallory
[vii] https://www.yrc.org.uk/journal-and-image-archive/journal-selector/yrc-journal-1902-vol-2-no-5/the-disaster-on-scafell-crags/
[viii] Mountain Jubilee: Lunn, Arnold. Published by Eyre & Spottiswoode, London, 1943
[ix] https://www.mountain.rescue.org.uk/fact_file/fact-file-2-history-of-mountain-rescue/
[x] https://rafmountainrescue.com/our-history/
[xi] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outward_Bound
[xii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outward_Bound
[BACK]
[[i] https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7161991/Black-white-pictures-Victorian-rock-climbers-Lake-District-Wales-Scotland.html?ito=link_share_article-image-share#i-64883d4477288d71
[ii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowdon
[iii] https://sublimewales.wordpress.com/local-services/guides/guides-to-snowdon-cader-idris-and-pumlumon/
[iv] https://sublimewales.wordpress.com/local-services/guides/guides-to-snowdon-cader-idris-and-pumlumon/
[v] https://www.climbers-club.co.uk/club-and-hut-history/
[vi] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mallory
[vii] https://www.yrc.org.uk/journal-and-image-archive/journal-selector/yrc-journal-1902-vol-2-no-5/the-disaster-on-scafell-crags/
[viii] Mountain Jubilee: Lunn, Arnold. Published by Eyre & Spottiswoode, London, 1943
[ix] https://www.mountain.rescue.org.uk/fact_file/fact-file-2-history-of-mountain-rescue/
[x] https://rafmountainrescue.com/our-history/
[xi] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outward_Bound
[xii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outward_Bound
Victorian Climbers on Tryfan