Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
Every year hundreds of people have to be saved from this Mount Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa), more than any other mountain in Britain, but rescuers have warned that the number of callouts is rising to unsustainable levels and are being driven partly by social media,
The Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team – one of the busiest in the country – has seen an increase in the number of untrained youngsters being rescued regularly.
In October, the team had to make 33 rescues, which included 18 full team deployments, and in November, there were 22 incidents with 15 full team deployments to save people.
With the arrival of winter, many snowdoniaIconic routes such as the Llanberis Path and spectacular teeth such as Cribb Goch (Red Ridge) to reach the summit of Mount Snowdon become increasingly dangerous due to snow and ice and very short days. Meanwhile, his appeal continues to grow as people upload footage of his climb social media,
A search of Crib Goch, Snowdonia and the Llanberis Path turns up hundreds of videos on TikTok and Instagram, many of which feature dangerous climbs up the craggy peaks of Crib Goch, with sheer drops on either side.
The Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team said that a third of all callouts were to assist people who had fallen into difficulties on Crib Goch, and all of these were men under the age of 24.
He warned that the route is a Grade 1 struggle, which “becomes far more severe in winter conditions”.
To tackle the ridge the team warned that it requires experience, appropriate equipment, good Season Decisions and a realistic understanding of your capabilities.
Jurgen Disman, chairman of the Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team, said: “We have had several callouts during November and have now had another callout at the beginning of December for people in serious difficulty on Crib Goch – often because the terrain has been underestimated or the experience has been underestimated. At this time of year everything becomes far more serious. Winter weather, strong winds, storms and low visibility can turn a manageable day out into extremely dangerous very quickly.
“It is important to understand that there will be times when we will not be able to reach you. If the weather is very severe, we may have to wait until conditions improve, and this delay may be lengthy. We are highly trained and experienced, but the safety of rescuers will always be a major part of our decision making.”
He added: “Please ensure that your experience, skills, fitness and equipment match the route and conditions – especially in winter.”
One TikToker, a London fitness instructor named Nathan Burrow, saw a huge increase in views last month after uploading a video of him getting into trouble and being rescued from Crib Goch, but he also used the video to warn others not to do what he and his friends did and underestimate the weather and the scale of the mountain.
In the video he tells how he “got into a very difficult situation and almost died”.
“Clouds were covering the mountains, but we thought yes, this is normal.”
“The higher we got, the more intense and extreme the weather became.”
When he reached the summit, Mr. Buru suffered severe convulsions. “My legs stopped working, unable to move amidst the strong winds and pouring rain,” he said in the video.
After calling 999 it took more than 4 hours for rescue teams to locate and reach them, by which time it was night.
“When the mountain rescue team arrived, we couldn’t have asked for more professionalism in that moment,” Mr Buru said. “If they had not come that night, I would have been dead.”
In a YouTube video published last month that highlighted the challenges facing mountain rescue teams as tourist numbers surge, Mr Dishman said the number of deaths in Snowdonia had also increased.
“We used to have about 4-6 deaths a year, but this year we have already surpassed that. There have been three deaths in the last few months alone.”
If the increase in callouts continues to grow, Mr Dishman said, “we really won’t be able to cope”.
“Now the surge is happening faster. There are a lot of jobs and they’re all serious – people are falling or falling down the hill. It becomes really difficult to manage all that coordination, and at some point if it all keeps going on the way it is, we won’t be able to respond. We’ll be able to reach people, but if you’re a little tired or have a little bit of an ankle injury, instead of falling down the hill, it might take us not two hours but 5 hours to get to you.”