The group was rescued from Crib Goch. Photo: John Lynch CC-BY-SA-2.0
Nine people were rescued from a Snowdonia ridge after bad weather halted their progress.
Llanberis and Aberglaslyn Mountain Rescue Teams were involved in the operation to help the group of charity walkers stuck on Crib Goch on Snowdon.
The teams were called out on Wednesday afternoon, with seven volunteers from each team making their way to the ridge.
A Sea King search and rescue helicopter from RAF Valley was unable to fly to the ridge because of low cloud, but was held on standby at Llyn Llydaw below the route.
An Aberglaslyn MRT spokesperson said: “A search for the group was mounted who were located on the ridge cold, wet and afraid to continue.
“Once on scene both teams successfully set up a belay system and were able to safely navigate the group off the steep ground.”
The rescue lasted 4½ hours.
Earlier this month experts pleaded with organisers of charity walks on Wales’s highest mountains to make sure participants were prepared and fit for the challenge
Mountainsafe chair Phil Benbow said: “We are eager for people to enjoy themselves as they come to Snowdonia and therefore are asking people to remember five things before they start out.”
He said organisers and participants should get a weather forecast and be ready to postpone their venture if conditions dictate.
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OutdoorGuy
13 June 2013Top effort teams! Another example of a great and genuine charity doing good work!
Interesting article, I would like to know more about the circumstances of the rescue.
It seems that these charity walks are proving increasingly problematic in the UK mountains, both in increasing litter and more worryingly, rescues, (which costs a great charity money in itself).
But it is hard to get a true idea of the scale of the problem.
While I am in flavour of encouraging people into the wilder places of Britain, which are sadly under accessed, (in many areas anyway- The North York Moors is very under accessed for example), I am not sure charity walks into mountains are the way forward here.
If they want to create an endurance event, make it long and on easier terrain?
A tough one.
One statistic I would love to know, when all the costs are stripped out, who much money actually goes to the intended “good work”, (e.g. food to the starving, shelter the homeless).
It seems some charities have become big business and people can make a good living at it, which seems to get away from the point.
Mountain rescue is one charity which is volunteer driven and the money raised goes towards the intended point of the charity. Their deeds and good work is reported on here nearly every day and I am proud to support them.
I take my hat off to all the team members and wish them the best! :D
Phil Lee
23 June 2014I agree that some charities are nothing more than big business however there are 180,000 of them in the UK mostly small and often under funded. The main charities that absolutely blitz the mountains mcmillan, BHF and marie curie etc are not only contributing to the local economies but also introducing people to the outdoors too and whilst some have become a number crunching exercise others contribute massively. It is what it is and whilst there is the demand it won't go away..more recently the demand has gone to mass participation events such as festivals and muddy assault courses..both with greater environmental impact and quite possibly similar or worse safety issues (a guess)
The introduction of a trail around the Yorkshire 3 Peaks is interesting because its made the route considerably safer and has appeared to increase numbers doing it. Having spoken with some locals they feel optimistic about tourism numbers and some are investing in new campsites / resources to tap the growing demand for challenge events. It will make interesting reading the safety / rescue stats over the next few years on events like these.
Mike P
17 November 2017In my opinion, Charity events in to the mountains should be led by either mountain guides or qualified mountain leaders. The seriousness of the mountain areas must never be underestimated. All too often we come across very poorly kitted out people taking part in such outings on the Hill.
I totally agree that charities should take factors such as risk, technical difficulty and suitability of participants in to consideration before embarking on an event. Perhaps as stated in a previous post, challenging endurance events would be more appropriate