Examentrainers

Peak time for rescue teams Summer is the busiest season for the volunteers who save those stranded in the mountains. Tony Durrant reports In action: mountain rescuers in the Lake District
		And they’re off, like cattle heading for		40		service1) for hikers, and RAF helicopters are a
		their summer pastures. The nation’s				taxpayers’ right.
		army of fair-weather ramblers,				Mark Hodgson, the Keswick team leader,
		scramblers and danglers is dusting off				highlights a particular mobile-phone incident as
5		their hiking boots, unknotting ropes, packing				probably the most unnecessary call-out of the
		sandwiches and heading for the hills.		45		year. It came from a female walker. “She had all
		Which is why that tough band of volunteers				the right equipment and a mobile phone,” says
		for the country’s mountain-rescue teams are				Mark. “Having lost contact with the rest of her
		busiest when the weather is at its best. That’s				group she sat down, dialled 999 and waited to be
10		right - emergency call-outs do not peak in the				shepherded from the mountain. This we did, only
		bleak midwinter. No, the ‘silly season’ for the		50		to find that the rest of her group were drinking in
		rescue teams is June to September.				a pub, totally unconcerned.”
		The Keswick Mountain Rescue				The nature of mobile phones also
		Team was called out 67 times last				causes confusion. A bewildered
15		year - 14 times, for example, in				walker in Snowdonia used his to call
		September. Six of those calls were on		55		for help and was put through to a
		one day and included a girl of 10				mountain-rescue controller who had
		with a sprained ankle; two				never heard of the peak the walker
		paragliders falling down a cliff at				claimed he was lost on. “I’m in
20		take off; a woman with a locked knee				Snowdonia,” came the panicked
		and a search for a suicidal person,		60		voice over the airwaves. “That may
		later found in Wigan.				be, sir,” replied the controller, “but
		On the night of July 13, the team had to				I’m in Dublin,” which was the site of
		organise a full-scale search using an RAF				the nearest phone mast to pick up the
25		helicopter, search dogs and 16 volunteers to				signal.
		locate a 29-year-old woman who had set out to		65		However, the message for mobile users is:
		cross one of the highest mountains in Wales. She				take it with you if you go into the hills. In the
		had no equipment and was wearing a light shell				right hands, mobile phones are very [id:27285]. They
		suit and training shoes. She was found unharmed				save vital time in an emergency.
30		and put on the next train to Wigan. The following				Despite the complaints about mountain
		day, six members of the team struggled up the		70		madness, our rescue teams are quick to point out
		west face of 3,000ft-high Tryfan to rescue a pet				they are all volunteers who do their job because
		dog stuck in a hole. And together with the dogs,				they love the mountains. So they won’t charge
		wanderers from Wigan and shell suit hikers come				you or chew your head off for calling them out in
35		the growing numbers of mobile-phoners. With				an emergency, day or night, 365 days a year.
		their map and compass at the bottom of their		75		As Hodgson advises: “People should do their
		rucksacks, or back in the car boot next to their				thing in the mountains. They are there for
		common sense, they reach for their trusty Nokia,				everybody.” Even if you’re from Wigan.
		assuming rescue teams are a kind of free AA

Daily Telegraph

AA service = de Britse Wegenwacht