20 e su s i - rescue

APR I L 2007

T H E O F F I C I A L M A G A Z I N E F O R M O U N T A I N R E S C U E I N E N G L A N D , W A L E S & I R E L A N D

PERSONNEL TRACKING

ROCKY MOUNTAIN RESCUE

MOUNTAIN RESCUE.WHY DO WE DO IT?

CORRIE AND BLUE PETER

GIVING SOMETHING BACK

PlusNEWS & VIEWS FROM THE MRC

AND AROUND THE REGIONS

£2.50www.mounta in . rescue .org .uk

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M O U N T A I N R E S C U E M A G A Z I N E M O U N T A I N R E S C U E M A G A Z I N EA P R I L 2 0 0 7 P A G E 3P A G E 2 A P R I L 2 0 0 7

E D I T O R I A L

A D V E R T I S I N GS A L E S

N E X T I S S U EIssue 21 – July 2007

Deadline for copy 8 June

Editorial copy must be supplied asWord/Quark document.

Images must be supplied as separateJPEGS/Photoshop EPS/TIFF (300 dpi)Advertising artwork must be supplied,

ready prepared on CD or via email as fontembedded PDF/EPS/TIFF (300 dpi) orQuark document with all relevant

fonts and images.

Every care will be taken of materialssent for publication however these are

submitted at the sender’s risk.

EditorJudy Whiteside

Rossendale & Pendle MRT8 bridgefoot close . boothstown . worsley

manchester M28 1UGtelephone 0161 702 6080

editorialemail [email protected]

WebsitePaul Baxendale

Paul Horder Keswick MRTDave Freeborn Patterdale MRT

HandbookEve Burton Buxton MRT

StatisticsGed Feeney Penrith MRT

MRC Press OfficerAndy Simpson

Rossendale & Pendle MRT

Pat Starkietelephone 0870 240 4024

Thank Youto everyone who has

submitted news, articles andphotographs for inclusion in the

Mountain Rescue Magazine.If your contribution isn’t

here, don’t worry. Everythingis kept on file for future

consideration, so please keepup the good work.

www.mountain.rescue.org.uk

Front page picRossendale & Pendle MRT

vehicle orientation and training at Lee MillQuarry, Lancashire.Photo: Chris Boyles.

Editor’s NoteArticles carried inMountain RescueMagazine do not

necessarily reflect theopinions of the MRC.

Further, we do not acceptresponsibility for

information supplied inadverts/advertorial.

There has, in recent months, been apaucity of views expressed in the pages ofthis magazine devoted to letters to theeditor. This has been paralleled by anabsence of grass roots opinions voicedelsewhere.

Of course, Thomas Carlyle observedthat ‘Silence is golden’. (Or to be accuratehe translated it from the Swiss).

It is tempting therefore to take comfortfrom this and believe that it is a mutedexpression of approval for the direction oftravel mountain rescue is taking and for theactions being pursued by the council.

My mind, however, casts back to thepractice on the deck of some trawlers whena poor catch was followed by a long silentstare directed from the crew to thewheelhouse. The intensity of the silenceand the stare increased in the event ofsuccessive poor hauls.

We have in place a number of eventswhich are intended to permit, indeed existfor, the exchange of ideas and opinions. Dothese actually allow the voice of most team

members to be heard? The 75 anniversaryis an opportunity to mark and recognise allthat has gone before but it is also a time tore-appraise the direction of travel formountain and cave rescue in the comingyears.

To do this effectively the widestpossible range of ideas must be on displayand if the mechanism to achieve this is notworking then this should be our first priority.

Francis Bacon took an opposing viewto Carlyle and said, ‘Silence is the virtue offools’. I am not enthusiastic for a round ofscything attacks on the MRC or its electedofficers but constructive criticism andpositive pointers are more that welcome.This is a unique time to contribute to thefuture of the services. Remember the linesfrom Lewis Carroll:–He had forty-two boxes, all carefully packedWith his name painted clearly on eachBut, since he omitted to mention the factThey were all left behind on the beach.

David Allan Chairman

Forty pages. Who’d have thunk it? Notme. Nor, I imagine, the half dozen or somembers of the executive committee,assembled round a table some time in late2000. For there it was I presented my firstthoughts for Mountain Rescue Magazine –or MRC News as it was then – and aboutwhich I still feel hugely protective. My baby.

Baby dinosaur more like. Cos, just likeTopsy, it grew. From the initial twelve page,monochrome number – to which, frankly,the response was sceptical – to the fullcolour confection you hold in your handstoday. Don’t get me wrong, the responsefrom readers was nothing but positive. Butcontribute? Let’s just stand back andwatch, see whether this bright, shinyenterprise on the part of the national bodydisappears as rapidly as it came. It tookseveral months – years in the case of one ortwo teams – before some would evenrespond to my emails. There seemed a realreticence to share experience, admit tolessons learned, knowledge incomplete.

I’m happy to say those days are past.News is forthcoming from every corner ofthe UK, teams seem far more comfortablewith sharing information, and the quality ofcontributions – from kit reviews, equipmentand technological developments, to ‘what Idid in my holidays’ – continues apace. And,thanks to the digi camera, I generally havea rich supply of images to work with.

The raison d’être was always tocommunicate – in all directions – and wewould appear to be achieving that. What’smore, what began as a publication fullyfunded by the MRC is now pretty nearpaying for itself through advertising.

But, dear reader, you already know allthis. So why repeat it now? Well, becausethe Outdoors Show saw us launch anational Supporter’s Group. We’ve beenattracting subscribers to the mag for the

last two or three years – and it’s great to seethem renewing their subscriptions – andmany teams either sell or pass on the magto their own supporters, but now nationalsupport members will also receive fourissues a year in return for their donation.That weekend alone saw fifty new supportmembers signed up – welcome to them –with many more hoped for and expected.Which opens up a whole new readershipand greater potential for growth.

But a couple of conversations at theshow made me bristle. Protective instincton full beam. The first concerned how themag should look and what it shouldcontain, now it has a wider readership. Thatit should be ‘more like the mainstreammags’, effectively diluting the currentcontent for broader appeal. The second,with a fellow editor of one of thosemainstream mags, and his comment thatthis was still ‘obviously an in-housemagazine, geared to mountain rescuepersonnel’. Give me a break! Of course, it’san in-house magazine. And focused onmountain rescue. And, presumably, that’swhy people are starting to subscribe.

Check out the BMC website andSummit. I quote. ‘As BMC membership isgrowing, so is Summit, and it’s now fullcolour, 68 pages and has an ABC of over41,000.’ Imagine that! Forty one thousandreaders! That’s one heck of a big baby.

Like Summit, we are also starting toattract top writers such as Andy Kirkpatrick.And that publication too started out as anin-house magazine. So, yes, we mayintroduce the odd item of more generalinterest – and I would welcome commentand contribution from our newer readers –but we still have a way to go before the tailstarts wagging the dog, and we start callingourselves ‘Trail’ or something.

Judy Whiteside Editor

EQUIPMENT NEWS

Mike Margeson, MRCEquipment Officer,reports...At the end of the financialyear I am delighted toreport to you that, via theequipment sub committee,the MRC has been able tofund and provideassistance to 45 teams inthe purchase or partpurchase of specialistequipment during the year.Regional representatives atthe equipment subcommittee have been100% for the first time for anumber of years and haveput in a huge amount ofwork over the past year.We currently have bothBell Stretchersavailable at 50/50 fundingplus a number ofvacmats on a first comefirst served basis. ThePPE/FPE EquipmentChecking Course willbe run again this year andis still being well received.There will be a specialfocus on stretchers at theNational TrainingDay at Plas Y Brenin onSunday 20 May. We hopeto get a number of differentstretchers together for thesession.I am still waiting for further

details of the newRescue Belay devicedesigned by Kirk Mauthnerof Rigging for Rescue andwill report as soon as Ihave more details.

EQUIPMENTWARNING – OLDPLASTIC BOOTS

Andy Sallabank, MountainInstructor and DFMRTTraining Officer, wasworking with a couple ofstudents in the NorthernCorries when the oldplastic boots of one of hisstudents literally crackedand fell apart (see Andy’sphotos). This not the firsttime I’ve heard of thishappening. If you have anydoubts about the age orquality of your plasticboots, Andy advises theyare put in the freezerovernight and then hit witha hammer the nextmorning! It’s got to bebetter than them crackingand falling apart on theback doorstep than halfway up the Ben.

FOUR SPONSORSHIPDEALS COME TOFRUITION

Penny Brockman reports,‘Some years of cultivatingand nurturing a number of

relationships with varioussuppliers have borne fruit.Mountain rescue now hasfour sponsorship deals onthe table.‘These arrangements havein some cases taken over ayear and half to closure,with a deal of to and froingthrough the fine legal detail– a strong sign theMountain Rescue (England& Wales) brand is

strengthening in themarket place.‘So what is included inthese sponsorshiparrangements?

Ordnance Survey‘This arrangement has notonly been established forMountain Rescue (England& Wales). We have alsobeen able to benefit BritishCave Rescue Council, theMountain RescueCommittee of Scotland, theAssociation of LowlandSearch and Rescue and,more recently, RAFMountain Rescue. The onlyteams not included arethose based in NorthernIreland, as OS based inEngland does not coverthis area. We are workingwith the teams in NorthernIreland to help secure thesame arrangement.‘The OS agreementprovides each rescueorganisation a completeset of DVD 1:25,000 datasets for the ‘whole’ of theUK. These data setsrequire an operatingsystem and the GPSworking group havedeveloped a free viewer –see www.mrmap.org.uk.‘If teams have their dataset, they must sign anaddendum to the maincontract of your nationalbody, and an internaldocument written by TonyRich. If you have not yetreceived this, [email protected]‘This arrangement is worthat least £120,000 toMountain Rescue.

Memory-MapAs we were going throughthe mire of the OSnegotiations it becameclear that rescue teamshad placed themselves atrisk legally by purchasing a‘personal’ Memory-Maplicence, which did notcover rescue teams.‘Discussions took place onhow we could obtain therest of the data filesrequired for Memory-Map,at a price to suit the teams.Sometimes it felt we were

close and, on otheroccasions, we seemed sofar away. Our eventualsuccess is very much dueto the hard work of RayBadminton at Memory-Map.‘Once again thisagreement covers not onlyMountain Rescue (EnglandWales) but the otherorganisations. Eachorganisation will haveaccess to:–• Complete Great Britaincoverage of the latestOrdnance SurveyExplorer™ 1:25,000 digitalmaps.• Award winning Memory-Map V5 digital mappingsoftware for PC, PocketPC, Smartphone andPNDs.• An annual 5 user licencewith additional licencesavailable up to a maximumof 50 per team.‘The normal price for thispackage is over £2,500 peruser but both OrdnanceSurvey and Memory-Maphave agreed to provide thecomplete package for just£50 per 5 user annuallicence (teams will have tosign the addendum to themain OS contract for theirnational body.‘If you would like topurchase Memory-Mapthen email [email protected] have alsokindly agreed to offer a30% discount onSuggested Retail Price forany retail Memory-Mapsoftware for those teammembers who wish topurchase Memory-Map fortheir own personal useoutside of the team’sactivities. This offer will beavailable directly fromMemory-Map, but ordersmust be placed by theteam’s nominatedpurchaser on headed teampaper.‘We must personally thankthose people who wereinvolved at different stagesof making this happen.Mountain Rescue – MarkMoran, Mark Lewis, TonyRich, Dave Binks, Rob

Brookes and AndySimpson.Ordnance Survey –Vanessa Lawrence, IanCarter, Oliver Newman,Indy Shergill.Government: – Dai Havardand Jim FitzpatrickMemory Map: RayBadminton.

Burton McCall andVictorinox‘Burton McCall are aspecialist sales andmarketing distributionorganisation for a portfolioof premium brandsincluding Victorinox,Maglite, Bridgedale andSigg. They supply to majoroutdoor retails such asOutdoor Group, Field andTrek, Cotswold, Tiso andNevisport.‘They have made adonation to MountainRescue (England & Wales)of £10,000 and 250Victorinox Climber ‘glow inthe dark’ pocket tools(retail price £20 each)which have now beendistributed among teamsin England and Wales.‘Team members can alsopurchase any of theirproducts at trade priceplus VAT. Orders must beplaced by the team’snominated purchaser, onheaded team paper, toSarah Heron at BurtonMcCall (0116 2344635) oremail to [email protected]. Any ordersbelow £250 will havecarriage added. Theseorders will be on aproforma basis andcharged at trade plus VAT.

Blacks‘Blacks and MountainRescue (England & Wales)are in the final stages of anagreement worth £20,000.In addition, Blacks willprovide a 20% discountacross all Black Stores toall mountain rescue teammembers.‘There will also be twofundraising events inBlacks stores as well aspublicity.‘We must personally thankthe people below who

were involved at differentstages of making thishappen.Mountain Rescue – TonyRich, Andy Simpson andmembers of the AvonSomerset Team.Burton McCall – MichelleDickinson.Blacks – Ashley Cooper.

MR MEETS THE PM

Wednesday 14 March.Parliament debates thefuture of the nucleardeterrent and anti-Tridentprotesters clamber overParliament Square. AndMountain Rescue waslucky enough to secure anaudience with the PrimeMinister. The idea was tomake him aware of someof the problems facingmountain and cave rescueand, in particular, draw hisattention to theunsatisfactory state ofaffairs regardinginsurance.David Allan, PennyBrockman and membersof the all partyparliamentary group, LordInglewood, Dai Havard andBetty Williams, talked toTony Blair and were givenan assurance that all theissues would be examined.Following the meeting anumber of MR personnel,including Biscuit with herhandler John Coombs,and an MR vehicle fromCentral Beacons team tooka press call in DowningStreet to record theoccasion. Watch thisspace for furtherdevelopments!

75TH ANNIVERSARYUPDATE

Plans to mark theanniversary year areprogressing well.The first event will be adinner to be held at theMidland Hotel inManchester. This venue isappropriate not only for itscentral location but alsobecause it lies very closeto where the first meetingto set mountain rescue oncourse was held. The datewill be either the 1 Marchor 8 March, 2008. Ticketswill be available fromSeptember and AndySimpson is taking chargeof this event. At the otherend of the calendar, thefinal fling will be a dinner inScotland on 8 Novemberat the Dunblane hotel inStirling. Alfie Ingram is theorganiser.We intend to have a biggerpresence at the OutdoorShow in March in 2008.Neil Roden and AlanGeorge will be leading thisevent and queries andoffers of help should bedirected to them.There will be two highprofile outdoordemonstrations of allaspects of mountainrescue. One will be held inthe Ogwen valley onSunday 18 May and theother in the Lake Districtlate in June or early July.More details of these willbe available shortly.There will also be a cavingevent probably in theYorkshire Dales and againthere will be definiteinformation in the nearfuture.


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IT’S NOT CHAMONIX, BUT IT’S BETTER TRAINING FOR GLOBAL WARMING.

PS. You’ve seen the cartoons... now buy the book! ‘So You Want To JoinMountain Rescue?’ by David Allan & Judy Whiteside is published by Hayloft – asnip at £14.95! www.hayloft.org.uk

LEFT TO RIGHT DAI HAVARD, MP, ROGER WILLIAMS MP; PENNYBROCKMAN, DAVID ALLAN, TONY BLAIR, MRS BETTY WILLIAMSMP AND LORD INGLEWOOD

MEDICAL SYMPOSIUMPlaces: 30Date: Saturday 15 AprilLocation: Charlotte Mason College, AmblesideContact: Peter Smith

01706 [email protected]

EQUIPMENT INSPECTION DAYPlaces: 24Date: SpringLocation: South WalesContact: Richard Terrell


MR (ENGLAND & WALES)MEETINGPlaces: 60Date: Saturday 19 MayLocation: Plas y BreninContact: Peter Smith


NATIONAL TRAINING DAYPlaces: 60 (all welcome)Date: Sunday 20 MayLocation: Plas y BreninContact: Peter Smith as above

PARTY LEADER COURSEPlaces: 30Date: Weekend JulyLocation: RishworthContact: Mike Marsh


SEARCH FIELD SKILLSPlaces: 30Date: Friday 31 August

to Sunday 2 SeptemberLocation: University of Wales, BangorContact: Dr ASG Jones

01248 7169713 Maes Tyddyn To, Menai BridgeLL59 5BG

SEARCH PLANNING& MANAGEMENTPlaces: 40Date: Monday 3 to Friday 7 SeptemberLocation: University of Wales, BangorContact: Dr ASG Jones as above.

SEARCH PLANNING& MANAGEMENT REFRESHERPlaces: 30Date: Saturday 8 to 9 SeptemberLocation: University of Wales, BangorContact: Dr ASG Jones as above.

EQUIPMENT INSPECTION DAYPlaces: 24Date: AutumnLocation: OldhamContact: John Edwards


MR (ENGLAND & WALES)MEETINGPlaces: 50Date: Saturday 17 NovemberLocation: Lancs Police HQContact: Peter Smith as above

TEAM LEADERS’ MEETINGPlaces: 50Date: Saturday 1 DecemberLocation: Lancs Police HQContact: Peter Smith. As above.

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We anticipate assemblinga display of mountain andcave rescue at Rheged.Peter Smith is the contactfor this and volunteers willbe needed when the timecomes to assemble thematerial.We are also activelypursuing the possibility ofa float in the Lord Mayor’sShow in London. RichardWarren and Neil Roden arein charge of this and willrequire a lot of support.

Peter Smith is assemblinga collection of pictures andphotographs which can beused throughout the yearand if you have materialwhich might be usefulplease let him know. Duecredit of source will begiven.It is intended we willmarket MR items duringthe year. Mike France is incontrol of this and wouldwelcome suggestions.All of these events are to

celebrate mountain andcave rescue across all theUK and therefore we hopepeople from across thecountry will attendregardless of the location.

LAND ROVERDEFENDER DIRECTPURCHASE DEAL

The National FundraisingCommittee havenegotiated terms on whichmountain and cave rescueteams can now purchasevehicles direct from theLand Rover factory. Theagreed procedure is thatindividual rescue teamswill contact Land RoverLimited direct withwhatever specificationsthey require. This willattract a discount of 13%off Land Rover Defenderlist prices, which alsoapplies to any factory fittedoptions.To proceed – contact AnnHutchinson [email protected] your vehiclespecifications and quotingthe code J0002. She willthen provide a quote.Once the team hasaccepted the quote, thebusiness centre will order

the vehicle from thefactory. Normally buildtimes would be 10 to 12weeks for standardvehicles and standardoptions, any specialvehicle options would addto this lead time, whichwould be advised at thetime of order. The vehiclewould be delivered for finalPDI and handover to alocal dealer as specified bythe relevant mountain orcave rescue team. Fullproduct and factory fittedoptions can be found atwww.landrover.comA list of special vehicleoptions can be suppliedindependently when wehave the various groupscontact details.

OUTDOORS SHOWNEC MARCH

March saw a posse ofmountain rescuepersonnel at the NationalExhibition Centre onBirmingham raising thenational profile. It was alsothe launch of the nationalMountain RescueSupporter Membershipaimed at helping all teamsin England and Wales.Neil Roden, who is

heading up the group said,‘It has long beenrecognised that a nationalsupporters group was agood idea but getting it offthe ground wasn’t quite soeasy and I’d like to thankall those who have joined.Hopefully, by the time youread this the group willhave a brand name and weintend to launch a PR andadvertising campaign inthe coming months.‘Some months ago, asurvey was carried outacross all teams inEngland and Wales to seewhat teams would likenationally raised money tobe spent on. The majoritywanted the same things.Top of the list was decentpersonal insurance cover

when team members wereout on call or training.Second on the list washelp with capitalexpenditure andspecifically with teamvehicle replacement. Thefact remains some teamsstill cannot afford a teamvehicle. The third on thewanted list was a bulkpurchasing scheme foressential team equipment.‘A lot of work is beingdone to work towardsthese goals and yoursupport really does help.’The weekend set thescheme off to a promisingstart with over fiftysupporters signing up forthe year – many offeringdonations well above the

minimum requested – andmany, many more takingthe information away withthem to consider at home.Single membershipcomes at a minimumcharge of £24 per annum,joint at £42 per annum.For this, supporters willreceive the four issues ofMountain Rescue mag peryear, a Supporters badgeand car sticker. Anyoneinterested in joining theSupporters group shouldcontact Neil Roden c/oWhite Cottage, 9 MainRoad, Grindleford, HopeValley, Derbyshire S32 2JNor go to www.mountain.rescue.org.ukfor further information.


NICKY THOMAS AND JONATHAN WYATT RECEIVE THEPOSTHUMOUS DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD ONBEHALF OF THEIR FATHER TERRY WYATT. THE AWARD WASPRESENTED BY MRC PRESIDENT, PETER BELL AT THE UKMOUNTAIN RESCUE CONFERENCE IN SEPTEMBER.

SPEED LIMITERS ON VEHICLESPeter Howells has drawn teams’ attention to

legislation regarding speed limiters on somevehicles, which may have implications for manyteam vehicles. Unless a vehicle is registered asan Ambulance – which is exempt – then it willhave to be fitted with a speed limiter. It’s worthnoting that the older Land Rover 110 Countyvehicles are specified as either 9 or 10 seaters.Check any minibus specifications and also checkthe manufacturer’s vehicle documentation.

Peter notes, ‘For all MR vehicles, LandRovers and van type vehicles (Transit, Iveco,Mercedes Renault etc.) that have been fitted outand now carry team kit and personnel, pleasehave the vehicle weighed with all equipment,members and their kit on board. You may besurprised with the result and what weight you arecarrying. Please check the GVW of the vehicle.’

The VOSA website states that, ‘From1 January 2007 additional vehicles fell into scopeunder the speed limiter legislation introduced inJanuary 2005. The changes affect all goodsvehicles over 3.5 tonnes maximum gross weightand all passenger vehicles with eight or morepassenger seats, irrespective of weight. The

relevant date for fitting speed limitersvaries depending on the gross designweight of the vehicle, engine type (suchas Euro III), international or nationalusage and the date of first registration.Specifically affected from January 2007are goods vehicles between 3.5 and 7.5tonnes and passenger vehicles with morethan eight seats, irrespective of weight,which were first registered between 1October 2001 and 31 December 2004,have Euro III engines approved toDirective 88/77/EEC and are used onnational operations in this country.

‘In addition, goods vehicles firstregistered between 1 October 2001 and 31December 2004 with a maximum gross weightbetween 7.5 tonnes and 12 tonnes, will have tohave their existing speed limitation devicesrecalibrated from 60mph to 56mph.’

VOSA Scheme Manager for Speed Limiters,Chris Dormand said, ‘I would strongly adviseanyone who requires further information toconsult the table on our website (Speed Limiters– New Regulations – Table of dates Adobe PDFDocument), as it does an excellent job of

simplifying what is quite a complicated piece oflegislation.’

If a vehicle has, or is required to have, aspeed limiter fitted and working, then it is notpermitted to use the outside lane of a three ormore lane motorway. If the vehicle is required tohave a speed limiter fitted but it is not working, itwill be illegal to use it on the public highwayunder the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use)Regulations 1986. Go to www.vosa.gov.ukfor further information.

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A group of hardy individuals are set to climb everyroute in Ken Wilson’s classic ‘Hard Rock’ in just fiveweeks to support the Army MountaineeringAssociation 50th Anniversary and raise £30,000 formountain rescue.

When ‘Hard Rock’ was published in 1974, it was immediatelyrecognised as a must for every climber’s bookshelf. Ken Wilson hadassembled a distinguished group of climbers, including Chris Bonington,Doug Scott, Hamish MacInnes, Ed Drummond, Pat Littlejohn and RoyalRobbins who, in an inspired series of essays, relived their experiences onsome of the finest and hardest climbs in Britain. The result was a feast of climbing literature,a celebration of sixty of the best routes in the land, illustrated with a superb collection of cragand action shots. Over 22,000ft of climbing, 180 miles of walk-ins, 3000 miles ofdriving and 4 ferry crossings. Only two climbers are known to have climbed every routeand both took ten years to do it!

Mark Stevenson was born in Dundee in Scotland in the mid 1970s. As a youth hespent his summers exploring the Scottish Highlands. At university, he progressed from hillwalking onto rock climbing and mountaineering and has been climbing mountains, cliffs,outcrops, boulders and frozen waterfalls ever since. Currently holding the rank of Captain inthe British Army, he has served in both the UK and Germany and has completed operationaltours in both Kosovo and Northern Ireland. When not climbing, he is employed as a specialistaircraft engineering officer with the Apache Attack Helicopter project team.

In 1998, Mark made the first British ascents of two 6000 metre peaks in the remote PamirMountains of Kyrgyzstan. Since then, as an active member of the Army MountaineeringAssociation, he has instructed on numerous expeditions worldwide and in 2002, led a majorArmy climbing expedition to the USA. In 2006, he was part of the successful British ServicesBig Wall expedition to Yosemite and he is currently shortlisted to participate in the next BritishServices Expedition to the Himalayas in 2008 which will attempt the taxing South East Ridgeof Makalu, the world’s fifth highest mountain.

Ranked as one of the top three sport climbers within the entire armed forces, he hasregularly represented the British Army in national and international indoor climbingcompetitions. A qualified climbing instructor for nine years, he is no stranger to climbingaccidents and has the claim to fame of being the only person to be airlifted from the Roachesafter taking a fall of less the four feet.

Rich Mayfield spent much of his youth climbing and walking in his native Welshhills. In 1994, he was invited to participate in the infamous British Army Expedition to Borneo,to descend the North side of Mt Kinabalu via an area known as ‘Low’s Gully’. The expeditionwas a spectacular debacle – no communications, poor weather, inappropriate planning,training and equipment lead to the disintegration of the expedition. Rich was one of the fewto facilitate his own escape, but only after an eight day period with no food. His escapeinitiated the largest ever peacetime mountain rescue operation which involved over onethousand British and Malayan military personnel in a race against time to find the remainingmembers of the expedition. The aftermath was acrimonious but Rich was exonerated,receiving a formal commendation for bravery. He has since relocated to Spain, where heworks as a full-time climbing instructor. His climbing experience is vast, taking in Peru, Bolivia,Norway, Morocco, Tunisia, Russia, USA, Oman and closer to home, the French Alps andSpanish Pyrenees. He remains an active member of the Army Mountaineering Associationand still regularly instructs and coaches members of the British Armed Forces.

Sam Mayfield had lived on the edge of The Peak for most of her life, but came toclimbing when she met and fell in love with Rich after she ‘retired’ to the Costa Blanca withher boys. Now hooked on climbing, she and Rich run The OrangeHouse outdoor centre. Remarkably, Sam volunteered to spend herentire summer supporting the two mad climbers attempting this. Sheis going to be responsible for logistics and media coverage for theevent as well as driving the teammotorhome over 3,000 miles aroundBritain. She is currently trying to recruit further support teammembers, especially anyone who is a good cook!

Finally, canine team member Tufa, who will be fitted with aspecial harness so she can help carry water for the boys. The threelegged, six year old half Husky, half German Shepherd is instantlyrecognised by hundreds of British climbers who have visited theCosta Blanca. Despite her disability, she copes admirably withGrade1 scrambles. No doubt she will be Hard Rock Challenge’ssecret weapon in exhorting donations out of tight-fisted climbers!

The challenge kicks off on Friday, 13 July 2007 at Cheddar Gorge. Thanks in anticipationfrommountain rescue and good luck! You can keep in touch with the team’s progress throughtheir blog –www.hardrockchallenge.org.uk

SIXTY ROCK CLIMBS. TWOCLIMBERS. FIVE WEEKS.

Discoverundiscovered gems

in SpainOne of the great undiscovered gems of Spain is the

mountainous region hidden in the North West corner of

the Alicante province behind the Costa Blanca. The

Muntanya Alicantina provides some of the best

mountain walking available in Spain. The dramatic

limestone scenery and varied flora combined with its

wonderful climate make it an ideal destination for

walkers for ten months of the year.

The variety of terrain is a surprise for first time visitors

with a series of ridges running west to east, north of

Alicante to the border with the Valencia province.

Hidden between the numerous ridges and peaks are

beautiful valleys with small traditional farming villages

nestling on the sides and a number of stunning gorges.

It’s not only, dramatic and beautiful scenery, which you

will find here. The empty countryside bears evidence of

its varied and long history. The area is surprisingly green

compared with the arid coast just a few miles away and

boasts a vast variety of wild flowers with a combination

of Mediterranean, alpine and continental climate

influences.

For more information about walking holidays in this

beautiful part of Spain we recommend you contact

www.mountainwalks.com or call 0870 068 5158

became a LAMRT member in 1970 when the teamwas formed by the amalgamation of the AmblesideFell Rescue Team and the Langdale MountainRescue Team to form Langdale/Ambleside MRT.Brian started with South Ribble Rescue Team in1964 when he was an apprentice with BritishAerospace. The team was an offshoot from SouthRibble Orienteering Club. South Ribble mergedwith Northern Rescue in 1976 to become Bowland-Pennine MRT. Brian moved to Ambleside in 1974and joined LAMRT.Mike joined Kendal MRT in 1960 where he is stillan honorary member. He was a founder memberof Cumbria Ore Mines Rescue Unit (COMRU) andteam leader until he stood down in 1998.

COCKERMOUTH RAFFLECockermouth MRT are currently trying toraise £30,000 to buy a new rescue vehicle toreplace a seventeen year Land Rover – although itis still reliable and has only 29,000 miles on theclock. To help raise the money they are holding araffle with fourteen prizes all donated by localpeople and businesses. The first prize is twoweeks in a villa in Florida, plus £500 towards theflights. There’s also a weekend break for two at theTrout Hotel, Cockermouth or dinner, bed andbreakfast at the Bridge Hotel, Buttermere. Ifanyone would like to help the team in their efforts,why not buy a ticket or a book of five. Tickets are£1 each. These can be obtained from DerekTunstall, Fellside, Barside Row, Arlecdon,Frizington, Cumbria CA26 3XD.The winning tickets will be drawn at 2.00pm onTuesday 25 September 200 at Cockermouth HQ.

MID PENNINEROYAL VISIT TO HOLME VALLEYHolme Valley MRT was proud to bepresented with the Queen’s Award for VoluntaryService by HRH The Duke of Kent at the team’snew HQ in Marsden. Several team members werealso presented with their Long Service Certificatesby The Duke of Kent, in recognition of between 10and 35 years service in mountain rescue.The Duke of Kent, the Lord Lieutenant of WestYorkshire, Dr Ingrid Roscoe, and several otherlocal dignitaries were guests of the team to see itswork past and present. Their visit included a tour ofheadquarters taking in several displays coveringtraining and exercises with Marsden fire crew, theRAF Search & Rescue Sea King crews and pastpress coverage. Also shown were several staticdisplays showing first aid and rescue from heightsequipment, team vehicle capabilities and an active

demonstration of search management and control.The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Servicerecognises the outstanding achievement bygroups of volunteers who ‘regularly devote theirtime to helping others in the community, improvethe quality of life and opportunity to others andprovides an outstanding service.’The Holme Valley team is proud of its links with thelocal and wider community to promote its workand safe active mountain sports though providingrescue cover for many outdoor events, such as fellraces, sponsored walks and mountain bike eventsrun by other organisations. The team continues todevelop links with young people though the scoutmovement and the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. Ofcourse, the main task it to provide West YorkshirePolice with a search and rescue capability andassistance with difficult casualty evacuations forthe West Yorkshire Ambulance Service. In recentyears, the team has provided a consultative role inthe emergency planning in case of incidents in theStandedge rail and canal tunnel at Marsden withNetworkRail.Team leader, Peter Philips said, ‘It was a proud dayfor the team members and their families to havethis Award presented by the Duke of Kent, and inthe year following the Team’s 40th Anniversary.We’ve come a long way from our humblebeginnings in 1965, but we would not exist withoutthe support of our members, their families and theother emergency services.’The presentation took place at the team’s new HQwhich is an excellent example of an emergencyservices partnership. When HVMRT were givennotice to quit their old HQ, West Yorkshire Fire &Rescue Service stepped in and offered two selfcontained bays and some store rooms at theirstation in Marsden. Sharing accommodation hascreated strong links between the services and anumber of joint exercises have taken place,including an interesting evacuation of ‘casualties’from a barge stranded in the Standedge CanalTunnel which is the longest (5698 yards) andhighest (645 feet) tunnel in Britain.The team was nominated for the award by theChief Constable of West Yorkshire who recentlylost his long fight against cancer. Peter Philips said,‘He was a great supporter and friend of mountainrescue both in West Yorkshire and in NorthernIreland. Not only did he assist the team withsupport and equipment but on occasion got hisboots on and came out with us on exercise. He willbe missed.’

ANNUAL BOWLAND EXERCISEThe last weekend in January saw BowlandPennine MRT hosting their annual majorexercise in Langden Valley, set in recently openedaccess land owned by United Utilities and withsome of the Trough’s most challenging terrain. Theday started with a search involving teams fromBowland Pennine, Holme Valley, Calder Valley andRossendale & Pendle MRTs. Search and rescuedogs from the Isle of Man Civil Defence MRT, andSARDA England & Wales also assisted us along

with police search officers. The teams searched,located and treated a large number of casualtiesand then, mid morning, another exercise was‘sprung’ on control in another area to stretchresources and communications.The event was a great success with over eightymountain rescue personnel actively involved. Theday was supported with the much-appreciated co-operation of the Lancashire Constabulary AirSupport Unit. The LanCon ASU was deployed in asearch capacity with its thermal imaging cameraand new live-feed download link proving highlybeneficial for our controllers. As helicopters are ingreat operational demand it was a goodopportunity to further develop our communicationsas well as our helicopter handling experience.Thanks to the crew for all their assistance.The day ended with a hot debrief followed, bythose who stayed over at our Smelt Mill HQ, with ahuge curry and lashings of local Bowland beer! Ahuge thank you goes to all the teams who madethe journey to take part in this day and to all fromBPMRT who made it possible.

ROSSIE WAY BACKWARDS AGAINRossendale & Pendle MRT are hostingtheir annual fundraiser on Saturday 7 July, onceagain inviting walkers to do it backwards, with thetraditional route reversed to anti-clockwise. Thereare three events on the day – the 46 mile circularRossendale Way, the 22 mile linear Halfway routeand a Family I-Spy walk of just five miles. Entry feefor the two longer walks is £12.50 for adults, £7.50for the under-16s. The I-Spy walk is just £7.50 forthe whole family. It’s a challenging day out for themost hardened walkers, not to mention teammembers on duty all day, but if you fancy having ago, email [email protected] for details andentry form. Go on. You know you want to.

NORTH EASTPOLICE AWARENESSTeesdale & Weardale SRT have recentlydelivered training and awareness to over sixtypolice officers from Durham Constabulary. Theteam were invited by the force’s POLSA group toprovide input to their Search Team RefresherTraining. The five day long presentations at policeHQ covered all aspects of mountain rescue but


LEFT TO RIGHTNICK OWEN, JOHNNY GRAHAM, MIKE

MITCHELL AND BRIAN MORGAN

Eyes to the skies for overhead wiresFriends of the Lake District has been campaigning for several years to reduce the visual impact

of overhead lines, particularly in our most valued landscapes. We are now seeing the fruits of this

campaign as the energy regulator Ofgem has agreed a programme specifically to improve the

landscape. It has granted a new allowance to all electricity distribution companies to put intrusive

overhead lines underground in National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

In the North West, United Utilities have £5 million to spend by 2010 across three National Parks

and four AONBs. Friends of the Lake District has developed a survey technique with United Utilities

and, in the Lake District, volunteers from the Lake District National Park Authority and Friends of the

Lake District are surveying lines identified by both members of the public and parish councils.

The first line to go under is at the RSPB’s Leighton Moss nature reserve in the Arnside and

Silverdale area. This has brought a dramatic enhancement to the landscape by removing unsightly

power lines and will help prevent birds being killed after striking a line. Lines have been identified at

Blawith Fell, in the Duddon Valley and in Martindale. United Utilities is now assessing the feasibility of

the engineering work required to put them underground.

We are still looking for keen-eyed locals to help identify intrusive overhead wires that are spoiling

the landscape. If you are know of any visually intrusive lines that appear out of character in the

landscape, please let us know. The line must fall inside a National Park or Area of Outstanding Natural

Beauty, be supported by wooden poles, not pylons, and placing it underground should benefit the

wider public rather than an individual.

LAKE DISTRICTRichard Warren (Secretary, LDSAMRA)writes... ‘The number of recorded incidents withinthe Lake District is 360 for the calendar year 2006.This number will probably reach the 395 level of2005 when all the reports are finalised. Followingdata analysis, there has been a large increase infatalities due to water related incidents (24).Incidents initiated by mobile continue to increase(52%). Numbers of fatalities in 2006 as a result ofheart attacks is much higher than normal at nine.The last time it was at this level was 1993 and 1994with eleven and twelve heart attacks respectively.There is also a worrying increase in numbersreported lost at 102. This trend was recognisedhalf way through the year and we now have a riseof 137%, which is a message we need to get out tothe general public. Currently there is nobreakdown of ‘lost by mobile report’ versus ‘lostreported missing’ – this could be done if theinformation was provided differently. Thedevelopment of incident statistics is a continuallymoving activity but is an extremely important partof search and rescue strategy. It can provide teamswith a strong steer as to where resources shouldbe directed; both in training and equipment eg.search techniques, swift water rescue techniciantraining and also public awareness programmes.’

GPS TRACKINGIt has also been a busy start to this year, not justrescues, but also finalising the arrangements forthe implementation of the GPS Personnel TrackingSystem within the region (see the article by PhilTaylor which provides a detailed update on thesystem). At the time of writing, a couple of the LakeDistrict teams are fully operational with the systemand it is proving its value on both injury rescuesand searches. For example, the family of fourrescue involving the 14-month-old baby

(19 February 2007), heavily reported in the mediaand reported separately in this issue, was trackedby both the Keswick and Wasdale MRT. Teammembers located in Piers Gill, Scafell Pike werebeing picked up on a Keswick computer at thesame time as team members being picked up onthe Wasdale control computer based in Gosforth.

TV DOCUMENTARYThe Cave Rescue Organisation and the LakeDistrict teams were approached by a film companyto explore the possibility of a full documentaryseries covering these two voluntary rescueservices. Five of the LDSAMRA teams agreed toparticipate in the project along with one of the caverescue teams. However, the discussions betweenthe BBC and the film company fell through late inJanuary. Work is still ongoing to attract one of theother television companies, particularly since 2008will be a major opportunity for mountain rescueand cave rescue teams to promote the voluntarynature of these highly professional UK wide rescueservices.Whilst on the subject of promotion, and wishing toreport on a more positive project, one idea that hasgained momentum is the involvement of mountainand cave rescue in the November 2008 LordMayor’s Parade. As part of the 75th anniversarycelebrations, myself on behalf of the Lakes alongwith Neil Roden, Edale MRT and NationalSupporters Group have been progressinginvolvement of teams in the 2008 parade throughthe streets of the capital. Mountain rescue andcave rescue have now been accepted forregistration in next year’s event. This will involveparticipation from representative teams fromacross the UK. We are currently at the conceptualstage but as the year progresses we will move intothe design phase for submission early 2008. Wewill continue to keep you appraised ofdevelopments through the magazine.

ACCIDENT INSURANCE COVERIt had been some time since the last review ofaccident insurance cover for team members,therefore the Lake District Association’s January2007 meeting considered and agreed the proposalto increase the cover from £250,000 upon death to£300,000 with loss of earnings increased from£250 per week to £300. The association will fundthe additional premium.

CUMBRIAN RAIL CRASHKendal MRT were very quickly mobilisedfollowing a request from police and Andy Dell,Kendal team leader, wishes to pass on his sincerethanks to all the teams that were involved thatnight. Andy plans to write an article for the nextissue of the MR magazine when he has more time.Things have been a little hectic in and aroundKendal over the past couple of weeks. Although,tragically, an elderly lady lost her life in theaccident, it could have been so much worse. Theteam kit is now out of the drying room and nolonger caked to the eyeballs in mud. The firstdebriefs have taken place with the police and fireand rescue services. We will report any anylessons learned from this incident in the next issue.If you have any questions on this article or indeedany of the Lake District articles or statements madethen please contact Richard Warren.

FORTY YEARS SERVICELangdale Ambleside MRT presentedMountain Rescue (England &Wales) Long ServiceCertificates to three team members in 2006.Certificates marking forty years service wereawarded to Johnny Graham, Brian Morgan andMike Mitchell. Johnny was a founder member ofAmbleside Fell Rescue Team in 1965. The firstrescue the team was called to was at the 1966Vaux Mountain Trial, when an Army Captainsuffered a broken leg at Styhead Tarn. Johnny

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focused primarily on search strategy and methodand explored closer operational links. Thepresentations were also attended by senior officersfrom Supervision, to again develop closeroperational links and greater understanding of ourrole and remit. Part of each day was also devotedto SARDA and all the participants had theopportunity to see first hand our SARDA dogsworking. Team leader, David Bartles-Smith added‘this opportunity came on the foundation of whatis a very positive relationship with Durham police.The operational benefits are already very apparent,but it was very heartening to hear such positivefeedback and the future role of mountain rescue inCounty Durham will undoubtedly be one ofcontinued progress and development.’ The teamhas been invited to continue this programme witha further group of officers in Spring 2007.

BIT OF A SQUEEZELlanberis MRT were called out when a 20 yearold student from Bangor somehow managed toget himself stuck in the squeeze crack around theback of the Roadside Boulder (in the LlanberisPass, Snowdonia). It seems the trapped manslipped past a constriction into a lower section ofthe crack and could not get out again.Despite the efforts of the full gamut of emergencyservices the man remained stuck for over fivehours. In the end a decision was made to lever thelarge capping stone off the top of the crack anddrop it over the side of the boulder. As it turned out,this didn’t really help as the man seemed to bestuck against a constriction much lower in thecrack. Powerful hydraulic tools were then appliedto the crack, which allowed some slight expansion,enough for the trapped man to be pulled free. Hewas taken to Ysbyty Gwynedd suffering from mildhypothermia.

PEAK DISTRICTTRAUMA DAY SUCCESSSunday 11 February saw the first regional TraumaDay take place. It was hosted by Edale MRT atneighbouring Hope Valley College (the team arecurrently baseless as their new rescue centre isunder construction). The day saw team membersfrom Edale, Kinder, Woodhead, Glossop, DCROand Buxton, all of various lengths of service tomountain rescue, come together – some to learnnew skills, others to refresh those skills forgotten.The level of teaching on the day was aimed at

casualty care certificate holders. Instructors andspeakers were mainly provided by Edale MRT, butthanks also go to individuals from Glossop,Woodhead and Derbyshire CRO who assisted withthe skills stations during the afternoon sessions.The day took the format of lectures/discussions inthe morning followed by skills stations in theafternoon. The material presented was based onAdvanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS), Joint RoyalColleges Ambulance Liaison Committee (JRCALC)and casualty care guidelines and with a mix ofdoctors, A&E nurses and paramedics deliveringthe information. Those teaching drew from theirconsiderable experience in mountain rescue, aswell as from their professional backgrounds.The morning programme consisted of lectures onSAFE Approach; Airway – brief anatomy, problemsand adjuncts; C-spine – anatomy, types of injury,complications and management; Breathing – briefanatomy, problems and management; Circulation– brief anatomy, problems and management;Disability – AVPU, GCS and Head Injuries;Fractures – types of, assessment andmanagement.The afternoon saw skill stations on Airway, PrimarySurvey, Fracture Immobilisation and Spinalimmobilisation using various methods, allowing allparticipants to get their hands on kit and be guidedthrough various practical skills.All members who attended found it extremelyuseful and many learnt new skills. For many, ithelped consolidate the teaching of the casualtycare course with additional hints and tips frommedical professionals. The day was deemed thatmuch of a success that those present expressedwishes for a similar session to be organised basedon medical rather than trauma care. It wasproposed that this should take place as part of aweekend to include scenarios on the second day.True to mountain rescue this would obviously allowfor an unplanned evening ‘skill station’ on thepharmacology and effects of alcohol, most likelyat a local hostelry!James Stubley, deputy team leader of Edalesummed up, ‘This day was a rare occasion whenmembers from all PDMRO teams had chance tocome together, share ideas and socialise. It looksset to become a regular regional calendar entry.Many thanks to all those who organised the day.’

INTERNATIONAL WEEKEND SEMINAROldham MRT will host their annual trainingweekend Friday 4 May to Sunday 6 May, at theSaddleworth Outdoor Pursuits Centre, Oldham.Experienced mountain rescue personnel withreasonable rope and crag ability are invited to join– there will be an initial limit of four members perteam. Attendees should bring along their personalcrag kit for all outdoor sessions, minimumrequirements being helmet, suitable harness, threecrabs and a 1 x 8’ sling. The team retains the rightto inspect and advise against the use of equipmentconsidered inappropriate for the weekend. Cost is£65 for mountain rescue team members and £130for all others, which includes two nights youth

hostel style accommodation (sleeping bagrequired) and all meals. Contact Tony Gillon on0161 330 4723 for further details.

BRACE YOURSELVES FORAN EMERGENCY LANDINGPeter Greenhalgh,OldhamMRT tells a salutarytale... ‘Imagine if you will, that your plane is on thefinal phase of its descent into ManchesterInternational Airport. You can hear the clunks andgroans of the landing gear deploying and the flapsrising. Or can you? Just as you dismiss it, thecaptain announces there is a problem. ‘Pleasewould all passengers adopt the emergencylanding position and all crew prepare for anemergency landing.’‘Words, I’m sure, every traveller dreads.‘On Thursday, 23 November over 100 others andmyself took part in Exercise Big Rig at the airport.The specialist fire service at the airport hasacquired a new £2,000,000,00 toy – a full scalereplica of a 747 aircraft. Complete with fire andsmoke on demand, this is as close to real as it canget. We, as volunteers, took part in an evacuationand processing exercise (no fire or smoke!) Wewere safely evacuated from the plane whilst fireservice, police and paramedic staff and vehiclesswarmed over the site. We were led initially to theEvacuee Reception Centre and the process ofidentifying and reuniting us with family at theFriends & Relatives Reception Centre began. Forus, just a wait – for the services involved a logisticalnightmare.‘The exercise was a chance for the emergencyservices to co-operate on a large scale exerciseand to practice their own roles as best as possible.Incidentally, it is also a legal requirement.‘Flying still remains the safest form of travel but it’sgood to know the everyone knows what to do if theworst does happen!’

SOUTH WALESSARDA WALES ASSESSMENTSThe weekend of 8–10 December saw two newadditions to the Call Out List. Antony Griffiths fromSouth Snowdonia SART and his dog Moss whogained Novice Search Dog and Iain Nicholson ofBowland & Pennine MRT and his dog Mij, who

Fred Barlow BEM – 60years in mountain rescue

Fred’s long involvement with search and rescue began in May 1946when he joined a surf and cliff rescue team in Bude, after meeting agroup of surfers on the beach. He’d taken up surfing following a kneeinjury, when it was suggested sea bathing would assist in the treatment.His interest in rock climbing developed during his time in the army,

training as an ArmyCommando at Achnacary,Scotland – the original trainingbase for the very first ArmyCommandos and then RoyalMarine Commandos – trainingwhich served him well.Following the war, asholidaymakers returned intheir numbers, the call for surfand cliff rescue grew.

His job at that time, for agas company, regularly tookFred into Cornwall and therehe became involved with amine rescue team which, inturn, led to his twenty yearmembership of Devon CaveRescue.

Fred was also involvedwith the National Park as aVoluntary Warden (Ranger)and, as such, he was regularlyon Dartmoor. He teamed upwith a Dr Jones, an

Okehampton GP and, following a number of incidents involving missingpersons on the moor, the two of them worked together to form apermanent rescue team for Dartmoor. A meeting of interested partiesgathered in Tavistock and and the Dartmoor Rescue Group was formed.

In 1969, a second DRG section was formed in Okehampton underFred’s guidance and he became the section’s first Controller. He wasclosely involved in the planning and operations for the Ten Tors for manyyears and became a member of the Ten Tors Committee, a post which hestill holds on an honorary basis today.

Involvement with DRG led to contact with the Mountain RescueCommittee (MRC) and Fred became a representative for the South West.The regional forum, the South West England Rescue Association(SWERA) was formed in 1978 in response to the number of teams beingformed in the region. Fred was instrumental in the setting up of SWERAand became a long-serving member of the committee, still serving asvice president.

His many years of personal devotion to search and rescue weremarked with the presentation of the first ever Mountain Rescue (England& Wales) 60 year Long Service Award, on 10 March 2007. Colonel AlanHooper RM Rtd, the Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Devon, presented theaward at Devon & Cornwall Police HQ, surrounded by many of Fred’sfriends. Joyce, Fred’s wife of 58 years, also received a bouquet of flowersin recognition of her long service to Fred and mountain rescue.

LEFT TO RIGHT COLONEL ALAN HOOPER, FRED, JOYCEAND SGT MIKE ROSE, CHAIRMAN OF SWERA

FRED (SECOND FROM LEFT) AS NORTHDARTMOOR TEAM TAKE CLLR MRS WHITE,THE THEN MAYOR OKEHAMPTON, TOCRANMERE POOL. CHRISTMAS 1970

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gained Novice Trailing Dog. Kevin Taylor of ValleyMRS and his dog Roly passed their Full MountainSearch Dog, as did Gaynor Lewis of AberglaslynMRT with her dog Pero. Gwen Patmore, also ofAberglaslyn MRT, and her dog Rolf gainedAdvanced Level 1 Trail Dog. Roland Layland ofLlanberis MRT and his dog Willow gained FullSearch Dog status.SARDA Wales would like to take this opportunityto thank all of the external Assessors who travelledto Snowdonia, and also wish the new dog handlersa long and productive time on the Call Out List.

YORKSHIRE DALESTED WINPENNYUpper Wharfedale FRT are saddened toreport the death of team stalwart Ted Winpenny.Ted died on 20 January after a relatively shortillness, aged 77. He had been a member of theteam from the early 60s and was still active on thepublicity and fundraising side until very recently. Itis difficult to even begin to cover all the facets ofTed’s life and his considerable contribution tomountain and cave rescue. First, his appearancemade him instantly memorable – he was proud tohave done his National Service with the RAF andfrom that day he sported an amazing handlebarmoustache. Coupled with this was his veryoutgoing and indeed straightforward Yorkshireapproach to everything.He joined the team when he worked as a pressphotographer, working for the Daily Mail, followedby the Yorkshire Post. Needless to say, thewariness and distrust of the press in mountainrescue circles at the time was very much at itsheight. Ted began to show his worth, not just inunderground as well as surface rescues, but in his

dealings with the press. Everybody in the businessknew him and he exploited this to our advantage.Over the years he collected a huge archive ofphotos and these were widely used as well asbeing the basis for the photos in the team’s 50thyear commemorative book.He gave many talks, over many decades, andalways managed to return with amazing donationsAn incurable joiner of clubs and societies, his fameand involvement meant a packed church in Otleyfor his funeral with some 500 people attending.UWFRA members were present in force and six

members acted as pallbearers. UWFRA wasalways his favourite and he used all his othermemberships to spread the word and, of course,fundraise. As a caver, Ted could give some veryexciting and involved tales during his talks to thepublic but he also recognised that many had neverbeen inside a cave or down a pothole, or had anyidea of the problems and conditions encountered.He decided we needed a film – ‘Cave Rescue’.This was in 1963, in the days before fast colour filmand portable lighting.The regional TV companies didn’t want to knowand said it was impossible, but Ted knew afreelance cameraman who, after a few pints, foundhe had volunteered. The resultant film went on tobe shown around the world and won numerousawards. The cameraman’s career took off and hebecame Yorkshire Television’s star man, coveringmany of their national programmes.Ted’s wife Hazel and son Chris followed him intothe team, Hazel giving so much support to Ted andthe team and, in particular, with our portable ‘soupkitchen’ turning out in all weathers like the rest ofthe team.Chris has been a team member for many yearsand, like his father, is a professional photographernow running the family business. We broughtforward our Annual Dinner recently to ensure Tedreceived his MRC Long Service Certificate. It wasclearly one of his proudest moments.David Dennis


LEFT TO RIGHT GAYNOR & PERO, GWEN & ROLF, ROLY & WILLOW,ANTONY & MOSS, KEVIN & ROLY, AND IAIN & MIJ�

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ROAD SAFETY BILLIn a recent Mail on Sunday, the

well known and influential

columnist, Peter Hitchens had

as his lead story ‘The charity

fat cats who betray our

generosity.’ Briefly, his advice

was not to part with your

money until you have

thoroughly investigated the

charity and its officials – are

they getting paid, are they

making a a good living out of

voluntary donations etc etc.

Now I only buy the

newspapers to look at the

racing results, but this article

caught my eye and, as I say

this chap is by all accounts

influential. He is also a regular

on Radio 4. So, before we all

see a drop in our donations

perhaps we should state the

terms of reference we operate

under and make our case

known to the general public.

The Fundraising Standards

Board (FSB) may be of some

interest to teams as

membership gives recognition

they are a bona fide charity. I

believe it is £50 to join.

Stewart Hulse

We’ve all been there, stretcher carrying over rough ground, withshort sections needing ropes for safety, struggling to get any real grip onthe metal stretcher or rope with the normal fleece type gloves! Well helpis at hand with a new range of leather gloves from Singing Rock. Theycurrently make two models of glove – one full length and one with 3/4

fingers. The ‘Grippy’ range – as thename suggests – offer excellent grip onrope and metal.

I have been using these for roperescue work for about six months nowand they certainly are provingthemselves to be a and wet weatheruse. The 3/4 are good for warmweather or for that team Via Ferrata tripyou’ve planning for years!

Made in the Czech republic out ofhigh-grade leather both models havesuede reinforced palm, Velcro closureand pull on loop, and are sized fromsmall through to XL. They are supple

enough to allow dextrous work with karabiners, as well as tough enoughfor fighting through undergrowth on rural searches.

The price is also excellent for a quality leather rescue glove, the 3/4fingers retail at around £12, the full finger at £16. We have a deal with asupplier who will beat these prices for teams ordering on headed paper.If anyone is interested, contact me via the Bowland Pennine MRTwebsite.www.bowlandpenninemrt.org.uk

Kit crit Grippy Gloves

Alan Woodhead Bowland Pennine MRTMPSRO Equipment Officer

New rescue qualificationTechnical Rescue level 4Xi Training Ltd, a rope rescue and height safety training centre, based in

Lancashire, now run a level 4 ASET accredited course in Technical Rescue.They recently donated fourteen places to the Bowland Pennine team. Thecourse includes stretcher rescue, rope access, PPE inspections for climbingequipment and links various aspects of crag rescue – the main difference wasthe industrial climbing element which saw team members hanging from acommunications mast 190ft up – a very different feeling from working on thecrag! The 5-day course ended with stretcher evacuations from telecomsmasts using a number of mountain rescue and industrial rescue stretchers.Although the industrial aspect is a new dimension for our rope rescue unit, itdoes mean we as a team can use our skills in an ever-changing rescue world.Thanks to Xi Training Ltd for kindly sponsoring the training.

Alan Woodhead Bowland Pennine MRT

constrained to base/desktop computers thancomputers themselves are these days. Alaptop in a command vehicle will function justas well as a fixed team base. In theory, even aPDA handheld type of computer could beused by someone out on the hill.

Will it work with othermakes of radio?

This is a frequently asked question. Theanswer is, Yes it can, providing you have GPSequipped radios, but we’ve yet to find anyother team who actually has GPS equippedradios they can call their own. The majority ofmanufacturers don’t provide GPSmicrophones for their radios. Without these,the tracking system will not work.

The Lake District teams researched allthe available choices before having goodreasons to choose Team Simoco radios. Roband Dave do not have access to any othermake of radio and no software can bedeveloped without hardware for testing. In thecase of Icom F31G handsets which did havea GPS microphone available, the code isalready written to handle the GPS data. It hasnot been included in the program becauseRob and Dave cannot get hold of anyhardware to test it. They will be happy to testit if someone provides the necessary radios.

If you have any other make of radio, thequestion to ask is, ‘Does it handle data in thefirst place?’ Not all do by any means and eventhen the data format is fairly critical. TheLDSAMRA system is set up to accept what iscalled ‘FFSK’ data. This is ‘Fast Frequency-Shift Keying’ and just means two audio tones,one representing binary zero and the otherbinary one. These are sent very quickly andsound very much like high speed FAX. Notrocket science but like all industry standards,there are many variations. Crossmanufacturer compatibility or cooperation isnot industry standard!

Any team using one make of handsetand another make of base/vehicle radio willhave a problem. No manufacturers designtheir hardware to work comfortably withanother’s. It is as simple as that. Dataprotocols are like the various company logos,different every time. The solution to this is thesame as the one opted for by LangdaleAmbleside. The AW Communications datamodem and desktop controller will work withradios like Icom F510s and Philips PRM80s astheir base sets. Icom users probably onlyhave to buy new gps handsets rather than awhole new system.

There could be another approach. Youcould ignore the radio itself and go for a‘generic’ GPS speaker microphone. Thesetake care of all the data formatting and containtheir own modem. The actual make of radiowould become irrelevant as it’s only used asa means of getting the data to the basecomputer. The two tones are perfectly audibleto the human ear and can be transmitted viavirtually any make of radio for which a suitableconnector plug can be found. This optionwould solve all the problems at one go asthere would only be a need to code for thedata format used by the microphone itself, the

make of radio is of no concern. This option isbeing investigated, but again, without samplehardware, Rob and Dave cannot go very far.But it does look like the most viable solutionfor those who do not use Simoco radios.

What’s coming next?The original LDSAMRA project simply

called for a GPS tracking program. This hasbeen achieved and the temptation to keep onadding functions has been resisted in order toavoid dictating how it should be used. Thesoftware has been released so that MRTs canuse it and feed back ideas for futuredevelopment. Dave Binks writes the codehimself and can make the program doanything reasonable. There will be no chargeif it benefits everyone.

Dave has recently successfully testedthe newest addition to the software whichwould enable teams to track the locations oftheir own and other GPS radios via a web link.In theory, any number of teams couldparticipate in this and their radios wouldappear on the maps of all teams connectedto the web server at the time. This would bepossible from anywhere in the country, orindeed the world, provided that all teams havea broadband internet link. Another teamcalled to help with a large search, forexample, would immediately be able to seehow other teams are deployed. Police, RAFand ambulance could all be directed to sucha site for updated information. This would bethe ultimate ‘All informed net’. Add a Skypephone and you could talk to them too!

Also being examined are the advantagesof using radio links to remove the accidentprone and expensive telephone landlines thatfeed remote transmitter sites. Three teams inthe Lakes already have OfCom licensed, lowpower radio links to their sites. As in the caseof mobile repeaters and re-broadcast devices,the data from the GPS mics passes throughthese links to be handled by the basecomputer. Voice over internet protocol (VoIP)is also being examined as an alternative to aradio link.

For the near future, GPS position reportsreceived from suitably equipped mobilephones is another project. The data outputfrom a GSM phone modem is again, apublished standard and not difficult todecode.

How to get thesoftware

The MRMap program developed byDave Binks, is now available to any team. Itcan be downloaded from the web atwww.mrmap.org.uk. There is no charge andit is less than 1MB so is easy to download.You will also need the recently released OS1:25,000 map tiles that Penny Brockman haslaboured long and hard to get for us.

The software released is a basic initialversion which will enable GPS tracking by anyteam using Simoco radios and GPS mics. Itwill track your team members and place themon a map anywhere in the country. Apart fromcopying the maps to the appropriate folder,you need do nothing. The program will sort

out the maps for you. Use as many or as fewas your hard drive can handle. The total forthe whole country is just under 12GB so asignificant amount of storage space isrequired for anything beyond your own regionor operating area.

If your team is not ready for GPS trackingthe software can be used simply as a viewerfor the OS maps.

There is nothing regionally sinister or inany way sub-standard in the LDSAMRA GPSproject just because it is being given awayfree. Rob Brookes and Dave Binks are bothhighly skilled and motivated people who givetheir time freely. The success of this projectdemonstrates what can be achieved by thosewho are prepared to work co-operativelytogether for the common good.

Useful contacts:MRMap can be downloaded from fromwww.mrmap.org.ukDave Binks: [email protected] Brookes: [email protected] 01539 728684. Mobile 07969 311280Andy Gamble: Senior BusinessDevelopment Manager Team Simoco, FieldHouse Uttoxeter Old Road Derby DE1 1NHMobile: 07710 738171DDI: 01332 375591 Fax: 01332 375501E-mail: [email protected] Communication Systems Ltd:01697 748777. www.toneremote.co.uk


Team Simoco and TMC Radio haveprovided Rob with considerable support andassistance in handling the hardware side ofthe project. Dave has received valuableassistance from Duddon & Furness MRT whohave done a great deal of work testing thesystem. Those are the folk who walk up thehill in the rain ‘Just to check it works!’

Most Lake District teams have bought anumber of Simoco GPS mics and arebeginning to use them. Rob and Daveundertook their first international assignmentby visiting MRTs in the Republic of Irelandwho have also adopted the system. A numberof other teams around England and Wales arealso looking at what it has to offer.

What is it for?Whilst Rob and Dave continue to stress

that they are not suggesting any specific wayof using the system, individual LDSAMRAteams are finding their own ways of makingGPS tracking work for them.

The most obvious advantage is thatbase operators can more easily be sure of thesafety of teammembers on the hill. Being able

to see where they are removes the need forrequests for position reports and, ‘Are youdown yet?’ transmissions from base. Aunanimously appreciated benefit is that thereis a general reduction in radio traffic.

Managing searches is easier when youcan actually see symbols representing searchgroups moving across the computer screen.

Langdale Ambleside intends using thesystem to help triangulate the position oftorchless benighted casualties who cansometimes see team members’ lights andgive bearings towards them. This wellpractised routine will be more efficient whenthe positions of team members can beaccurately seen on the screen.

Patterdale MRT operates in an area withpoor pager and mobile phone coverage, sointends to use MRMap to ‘log’ team membersas they attend callouts. Everyone will be toldto click their mic as they leave home to attendbase. As soon as one of them does this theprogram will automatically poll the rest of theteam. A list of team members attending thecallout will automatically appear down theedge of the MRMap screen.

There are numerous possibilities but it’sup to the users of the software to come upwith the ones best suited to their needs. Thedevelopment team would be interested tohear from anyone with a good idea to share.

How should a systembe set up?

Different teams have different needs soit’s a matter of horses for courses. Someteams such as Wasdale have astraightforward desk-top mounted vehicleradio in base that can talk directly to the GPShandsets on the hill. It is connected to theirbase computer running the MRMap softwareand they can see where their team membersare. It’s simple and suits their method ofoperation. Wasdale’s area tends to go uprather than along! Sometimes simple is good!

At the other extreme, LangdaleAmbleside has five remote transmitter sites allfeeding back to a very sophisticated signalvoting device that decides which is theappropriate transmitter to use for any givenhandset being received. This gives veryefficient coverage of the operating areadespite the abundance of hills and narrow,twisting steep sided valleys. All the remotesites are heard at base from just the onedesktop control unit. The voter unit does thehard part of keeping all the sites in order.Controlling five independent transmitter sitesis easily achieved without the base operatorneeding multiple pairs of hands!

Unfortunately, the desktop controller(SRD1000) used by LAMRT cannot handleGPS data at all. It was developed prior to thistype of transmission entering wide spreadusage. AW Communications in Carlisle arenow building a stand-alone data modem thatwill connect to their own model of desktopcontroller and pass data to allow thecomputer to place teammembers on the map.

Duddon and Furness is the first team inthe Lakes to use a rebroadcast vehicle – asystem somewhere between the extremes ofthe Wasdale and Langdale Amblesidesystems. The vehicle must be able to movewhen necessary to maintain communicationsbetween the hill party and Broughton base.The GPS data passes straight through the linkrepeater and the system works well.

Operation of the program is no more

Rob Brookes, LDSAMRA Comms Project Officer and a member of Langdale Ambleside MRT,has been working to develop a mountain rescue friendly GPS based personnel trackingsystem for nine years. Although he could make it work, the limiting factor was the equipment

which would need to be carried on the fell. It was too heavy, too bulky, too complicated and tooeasily damaged. Everything changed when Simoco developed their GPS equipped speakermicrophone and Dave Binks of Duddon & Furness MRT agreed to write a professional trackingprogram. This has now been released as MRMap. Real-time GPS tracking of individual teammembers has become possible with a minimum of fuss.

Phil Taylor on developments in the real time tracking of individuals

Personnel tracking

Viewranger mobile phone softwarefor Mountain Rescue

Augmentra has released an update for ViewRanger, theaward-winning mobile phone software which turns yourphone into a complete off-road navigation system with fullcolour OS mapping.But ViewRanger is much more than simply a ‘map on aphone’. Its unique 3D Panoramic Viewpoint maps label thelandscape features around you, its new Buddy Beacon letsyour location be shared withauthorised viewers (and lets you seethe location of others), and integrationwith a phone’s camera records photosdirectly to the map.Waypoints and map coverage islimited only by the size of yourphone’s memory card, and tracklogscan be recorded to be analysed withViewRanger or later on a PC. Both1:50,000 and 1:25,000 UK OrdnanceSurvey mapping is available andAugmentra say they are working withother national mapping agencies in Europe. The phonesViewRanger run on – called ‘smartphones’ – include thepopular Nokia models. You may need a Bluetooth GPSreceiver to provide positioning information (available foraround £40), but the Nokia N95 with integrated GPS is dueto be available soon and Nokia have announced furtherGPS handsets to be available later in 2007. Screen sizemay have been a problem in the past, but the latest modelssuch as the Nokia N73 have a bright, crisp display of thefinest detail available in OS Explorer mapping.For members of bona fide search andrescue organisations, Augmentra offers adiscount scheme for its software andmapping. Contact the company for details.Find out more, and download a free trialversion of the software and samplemapping, at www.viewranger.com

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The 2630 is the latest addition to theHeadsUp range from Peli. This hands-freeheadtorch uses a super bright 1 watt LED that canbe activated in 4 modes: low, medium, high andflashing for emergencies. The 2630 HeadsUp litefeatures a battery power indicator to show the levelof usage. The 3 AA batteries, which are included,are housed in a lightweight rear battery pack. Theyhave a burn time of 24 hours in low mode, 10hours in medium mode and 3 hours on the highsetting. The torch head pivots 90° to aim the beamdirectly where required. The body is tough ABSresin that is corrosion proof and lightweight.

The 2630 is one in a range of HeadsUP Litesfrom Peli, offering quality and choice for hands-free torches. All the HeadsUp models are suppliedwith a rubber strap for helmet use and acomfortable cloth strap for wearing directly on thehead. It weighs just 196 grams and is priced at£52.12 (inc. VAT). For more details go towww.peliproducts.co.uk. As with all Peliproducts, the 2630 is covered by the legendary‘You break it, we replace it’ lifetime guarantee.

Peli head for new2630 LED

Spring/Summer 2007 sees some newadditions to the already extensive MountainEquipment Range.

Sleeping bags – we’ve introduced theNew Xero Range, our lightest and mostcompressible sub zero down bags ever. TheNew Xero Range offers the highest warmth toweight ratios possible for those indulging inultra light ventures. We’ve also added women’sspecific cut sleeping bags across our downand synthetic ranges for this season.

On our Hardshell range – all the classicaward winning shells carry through, such asthe MR team favourites like the Kongur andOgre XCR jackets. For summer, the range seesthe introduction of lighter alpine/summerpieces such as the new men’s and women’sFirelite jackets constructed in Gore-tex®Paclite, with a total weight of 295g, making itthe ideal partner for those warmer summerdays as back up in your rucksack. It alsofeatures 3M® reflective detail for hi-visibility.

We’ve also made further improvements toour already popular lightweight and versatileStretchlite and Approach leg wear collectionsfor the summer.

For further details on our whole range seewww.mountain-equipment.co.uk orcall 0161 366 5020

New MountainEquipment

Spring/Summer2007 range now

available

Launched at Lancaster Conference in Sept 2000, theUK Missing Person Behaviour Study aims to providesearch managers with reliable, UK-based data about thebehaviour of missing/overdue persons in manyenvironments.

* As MRC Statistics Officer and a team leader, I’vefound this information very helpful in the management ofsmall and large searches.

* It is actively used by all PolSA officers in manypolice authorities to determine priorities and in otherdecision-making processes.

* It is issued by the Police Training College searchcourses

* It does not claim to give you the answers but it hasproved very useful guidance in managing searchoperations.

This study, and the advice extracted from the study,is freely available from the websites of the MRC and theSearch Research Centre. So far, five reports have beenpublished in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005. This lastpublication contained a dataset of 708 cases, by far themost significant dataset of missing persons in the UK. Thedataset currently stands at 852 cases. However, this is nota static project – it relies on new cases being reportedregularly. There appears to be a significant falling-off ofreporting in this vital area as the following table shows:–

As a regular user of these reports, they do not take agreat deal of time to complete. As anyone can see, if everysearch for these five years had been reported, this alonewould have contributed over 1200 cases to the dataset.This study is for all search managers but, to be of greaterbenefit, it needs to grow. This growth depends on youcontributing reports. It is no longer acceptable to expectmissing hillwalkers (or any other category for that matter)to behave in the ‘usual way’ if you have not establishedwhat is ‘normal’ behaviour. A team leader’s memory willnever be that clever and besides team leaders don’t lastfor ever!

Reporting for this study has been incorporated intoincident reporting since before the September 2000launch of the study. The report does not make heavydemands on time or intellect. Questions on the categoryof person missing, the environment where the search iscentred, location found and distance from Point LastSeen; together with any background, usual and unusualbehaviour and what search tactics proved useful.

Please continue to report the behaviour of missingpersons if this has been your habit. If you have notreported this information recently, it can be back-dated.The least I can urge is that it is time to make a resolutionto report all missing person information in future searches.

Copies of the studies can be obtained from:–www.mountain.rescue.org.uk/

publications/serman.phpor searchresearch.binaryvein.com/ukmpbs/

Ged FeeneyMountain Rescue (England & Wales)Statistics Officer

ReportingMissingPersonBehaviour

LEVEL OF MISSING PERSON BEHAVIOUR REPORTING INENGLAND & WALES

Year Searches MPB Reports

2002 336 145

2003 286 117

2004 302 93

2005 276 76

2006 203 61

Beach Cottages – Morroch Bay,South West Scotland

Why not take a break at Richard Nash’s ‘hidden hideaway’ in Scotland – nestling againstcliffs, deep in the south west corner of Scotland lies Morroch Bay, shielded from the wind onthree sides by steep high cliffs, and guarded by the Atlantic to the south.

The cliff track, once managed only by tractor and ropes, is now improved to allow 4WDaccess. The track has a hairpin bend on a 45 degree gradient, but is comfortably handled withthe correct vehicle and careful driving – particular care should be taken. Richard Nash, whomanages the coastal smallholding, particularly welcomes walkers and off-road enthusiasts.‘We get a number of visitors throughout the year, and arrange a four-wheel drive deliveryservice. However, 4WD owners can best appreciate the freedom and isolation of this uniqueand beautiful private setting.’

Once on the bay, set on the Mull of Galloway to the south of Portpatrick, the isolation iscomplete. No other houses, shops or pub within convenient walking distance. However, thevillage is only ten minutes away by boat or 4WD. On a clear day, the Isle of Man can be seenand, at night, the lighthouses on the Irish coast complement the stars as the only lights, savefrom the comfortable croft houses on the sea shore. Protected by Scottish Natural Heritage, thepeace and solitude offers the ideal antidote to the pressures of modern living.

The cottages at Morroch Bay are available individually, together or with single exclusiveuse throughout the year. For further information, seewww.morroch-bay.com or contactRichard or Susan Nash on 01457-862128.


Incident report... the tales behind the stats...

Lake District

Cockermouth 06/10, 07/10, 11/10, 16/10, 24/10, 24/10, 29/10

09/11, 13/11, 22/11, 23/11, 01/12, 19/12, 24/12

26/12, 30/12

Coniston 14/10, 31/10, 04/11, 27/11, 28/11, 24/12, 26/12

Duddon & Furness 19/10, 25/10, 26/10, 22/11, 25/11, 27/12, 30/12

Kendal 25/10, 05/11, 25/12, 26/12, 27/12, 27/12

Keswick 13/10, 17/10, 21/10, 25/10, 26/10, 26/10, 29/10

08/11, 11/11, 22/11, 25/11, 25/11, 01/12, 13/12

17/12, 22/12, 29/12

Kirkby Stephen 08/10, 22/11

Langdale Ambleside 03/10, 17/10, 23/10, 24/10, 24/10, 25/10, 26/10

29/10, 05/11, 19/11, 26/11, 01/12, 01/12, 13/12

20/12, 25/12, 27/12, 27/12, 31/12

Patterdale 21/10, 25/10, 25/10, 02/11, 02/11

Penrith 08/10, 22/11, 14/12, 17/12, 23/12

Wasdale 10/10, 10/10, 12/10, 14/10, 25/10, 26/10, 17/11

22/11, 13/12, 17/12, 19/12, 21/12, 22/12, 26/12

30/12

Mid-Pennine

Bolton 03/10, 08/10, 15/10, 28/10, 13/11, 17/11 19/11

19/11, 23/11, 26/11, 05/12, 08/12, 13/12, 15/12

18/12, 23/12, 31/12

Bowland Pennine 09/11, 24/11, 26/11, 12/12, 29/12

Calder Vallley 31/12

Holme Valley 08/10, 21/10, 03/12, 09/12, 31/12

NE England

Cleveland 08/10, 26/11, 07/12, 31/12

Northumberland NP 01/10, 08/10, 14/10, 17/10, 22/11, 06/12

North of Tyne 08/10

Scarborough & District 08/10, 26/11

Swaledale 08/10

Teesdale & Weardale 08/10, 20/11, 26/11, 13/12

North Wales

Aberglaslyn 13/10, 21/10, 01/11, 27/11, 18/12

Llanberis 06/10, 07/10, 09/10, 23/10, 23/10, 24/10, 25/10

02/11, 04/11, 25/11, 01/12

North East Wales 02/10, 25/11

Ogwen Valley 09/10, 24/10, 25/10, 03/11, 10/11, 15/11, 18/11

25/11, 05/12, 22/12

Outward Bound Wales 01/11

Plas y Brenin 25/11

South Snowdonia 13/10, 01/11, 25/11, 18/12

Snowdonia Nat Park 23/10

Peak District

Buxton 01/10, 14/10, 25/10, 29/10, 02/11, 04/11, 09/12

17/12, 17/12, 24/12, 24/12, 25/12, 27/12

Derby 08/10, 08/10, 12/11, 18/11, 14/12, 28/12

Edale 01/10, 14/10, 25/10, 29/10, 02/11, 04/11, 06/11

18/11, 26/11, 07/12, 09/12, 09/12, 17/12, 17/12

24/12, 25/12, 27/12

Kinder 08/10, 08/10, 17/10, 28/10, 28/10, 12/11, 02/12

04/12

Oldham 08/10, 08/10, 08/10, 26/10, 30/10, 30/10, 08/11

12/11, 03/12, 23/12, 30/12, 31/1205/12, 31/12

Woodhead 08/10, 08/10, 26/11, 25/12, 28/12

South Wales

Brecon 21/11, 24/11, 28/12

Western Beacons 01/10, 04/11, 24/11, 11/12

Central Beacons 01/10, 27/10, 04/11, 15/11, 21/11, 24/11, 23/12

26/12, 28/12

Longtown 26/12

South West England

Exmoor 11/10, 28/10, 07/12

Yorkshire Dales

CRO 07/10, 07/10, 23/10, 30/10, 22/12, 26/12

Upper Wharfedale 09/10, 28/10, 29/10, 17/12, 19/12, 19/12, 30/12

RAF

RAF Leeming 22/11, 01/12, 25/12

RAF Valley 06/10, 02/11, 01/12

SARDA

SARDA (England) 07/10, 08/10, 11/10, 17/10, 25/10, 28/10, 09/11, 19/1

22/11, 06/12, 22/12, 25/12, 26/12

SARDA (Lakes) 08/10, 17/10, 25/10, 26/10, 08/11, 22/11, 23/11

23/11, 26/11, 01/12, 22/12, 23/12, 29/12, 30/12

SARDA (Wales) 11/10, 01/11, 01/12

SARDA (South Wales) 01/10, 08/10, 27/10, 04/11, 04/11, 15/11, 21/11

24/11, 11/12, 23/12, 26/12, 28/12

SARDA (Scotland) 22/11

Non specialists (Non MR)

09/10, 01/11

QUARTERLY INCIDENT REPORT FORENGLAND AND WALESOCTOBER-DECEMBER 2006The following is a listing of the number of incidents attended by MR teams in England and Wales during the periodfrom 01/10/2006 to 31/12/2006 It is grouped by region and shows the date (day/month) the incident began. It is notcomprehensive as many incidents have yet to be reported.

Piers Gill, Scafell Pike –Wasdale’s newest incidentblackspot. The latest rescuein there caused quite a stir inthe media but was it an‘insane’ climbing expedition?Here are the facts from theDeputy Team Leader whoarrived on scene.

‘A baby of fourteen months became theyoungest person to be rescued fromEngland’s highest mountain, after his familyembarked on an ‘insane’ climbing expedition.’Times Online. 21 February 2007.

Many of you will know something aboutthis rescue already as it was very widelyreported. The comment about it having been‘insane’ apparently came from a walker whowas interviewed at Wasdale Head the followingmorning, as he prepared to set off for a walk.In contrast, Wasdale MRT went to a lot of effortto ensure the reporting was factually accuratebut this may fill in some of the gaps.

The call came at 19.30 on 19 February.The previous day had been glorious and warmT-shirt weather, and I’d even bumped into oneof our team doctors carrying his baby in upperMosedale that afternoon. Today had beendifferent – cooler, more wind, low cloud, andrain in the afternoon, but still unseasonably

mild for mid-February. It had been dark by18:00. A couple, with their baby in papooseand a five year old on foot, had set off at noonfrom Wasdale Head up Brown Tongue ontoScafell Pike. By chance they got intoconversation with another unrelated partyascending the same route who subsequentlyraised the alarm when they noticed their carstill parked after dark. These informants hadeven gone part way back up the fell to see ifthe family could be found.

The family had last been seen at 16.00shortly after leaving the summit. The groupwas vulnerable so a fast find was important.Our numbers were reduced due to half-term,so Duddon & Furness MRT were covering theEskdale exits, a favourite place for ending upafter navigational errors on the summitplateau, and Keswick MRT, despite havingalready been out that afternoon, would coverthe Borrowdale side. We were sending smallparty groups up all the likely Wasdale exits andmore dogs were on order.

My group took the path up the true rightside of Piers Gill, a deep vertical-walled cleft,which sometimes sucks people in from theCorridor Route but has no walker’s exit belowthis. Visibility was poor when we made contactwith a party beneath us and it was difficult totell whether they were on the true left bankabove the crags or in the bed of the Gill, butneither are good places for small children. Weleft one of our party as spotter/radio relay tokeep in contact and the remainder moved upto the Gill top then back down to cover bothoptions.

We got to the family in the bed of the Gill(NY212082) at 23:00 and erected a bivvy tent.They were cold and wet but well dressed andunharmed, so not at immediate risk and aleisurely evacuation could now be considered.The parents were mortified and continuallyapologised from the outset. They wereexperienced walkers but had made anavigational error and entered the Gill, andthen compounded it by pressing on hopingthere was a way out lower down, rather thanretracing their steps up the rocky bed of theGill. As soon as they had realised their mistakethey had protected their children well and hadstopped and sheltered when the going got toorisky, before the big pitches lower down. Theydid not know who had called us out as no onewas expecting them, and had left their survivalbag in the car. The five year old was a bit quietbut perked up when offered a Mars milkshake,the baby was warm in a fully enclosedpapoose but polished off a bottle of orangeisotonic through a sports nozzle. Werewarmed and fed on sheep droppings(chocolate raisins) whilst the team assembledaround us.

The best route out for small children fromthe Gill bed was not clear: either a rope haulup the side or assisted walkout/carry up theGill to the exit some 100m/0.4km higher. Wedecided to try the latter and see how it went asit was important to keep the family together ifwe could. Baby went on the back of a sure-footed teammember, and the five year old wascarried across the pools and lifted up thesteepest sections in a chest harness withsupporting slings. The five year old wentremarkably well but, not surprisingly, was tiringso we decided to stretcher him off from the Gilltop – it would be both quicker and safer.Keswick MRT kindly carried up the stretcherfrom the Styhead box and met us there. Theway off now was a short uphill carry to LingmellCol and then down to the valley bottom in stiffwind and rain by 04.00, to a very warmwelcome from the Wasdale Head Inn. Not atechnically difficult or adrenalin inducing job,but more satisfying than most

Press interest was intense from the startand we reported the event factually and non-judgmentally. As far as I am aware no memberof MRT present on the job criticised theparents personally: the parents were only tooaware of their mistakes. They’d certainly beenextraordinarily lucky in having us called outearly that evening, but anyone can make amistake and they’d done their best by theirchildren thereafter. It’s good the incident waswidely reported, that others may learn fromtheir experience, but were the parents‘insane’? The implication of some reports isthat the hills are no place for children no matterwhat margin of safety is applied. I used to takemy children up hills at the same ages and Ihaven’t been locked up yet. I fear some of thereporting will put off other parents taking theirchildren (safely) into the hills for fear of publiccriticism, and in my view this would be a greatshame.

David WilleyDeputy Team Leader

Wasdale MRT

Lakes

PIERS GILL FROM THE CORRIDOR ROUTE INBETTER VISIBILITY

PIERS GILL FROM THE CORRIDOR ROUTE INBETTER VISIBILITY

Now you can support mountain rescue and benefit all the teamsin England and Wales. For £24 per year for a singlemembership, £42 for joint membership you will receive aSupporter’s badge, car sticker and four issues of MountainRescue Magazine – January, April, July and October – delivereddirect to your door.Interested? Fill in the form below and return to Neil RodenWhite Cottage, 9 Main Road, Grindleford, Hope Valley,Derbyshire S32 2JN

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As an active member of Skye MRT, andalso part of the Mountain Rescue Committeeof Scotland research group developingrescue equipment, I was keen to experiencethe differences between Scottish mountainrescue and YOSAR with a view to finding newideas and a possible means to improve ourown service to the lost and injured onScotland’s hills. Although the terrain may bevery different, the basic principle of runningmy short stay here I hoped to identify themethods and techniques which could be ofbenefit and improve our overall function andperformance.

In a rambling wooden building, sharingpremises with the National Park Fire Service,the Yosemite Search and Rescue has its base.The first thing you notice as you enter are thewall length open box shelves, packed with kitfor ‘grab and go’ situations – so much easierthan hurriedly trying to sort what equipment is

needed out of a heavy rucksack in thepressured moments immediately before acall-out.

On three large sheets of paper stapledto the walls are checklists for kit, ability andgeneral hill craft. These may be for the newerteam member’s benefit but I think they serveas a useful reminder to any active rescuer ofthe seriousness of this business. The ideacertainly could carry across continent andocean and be a practical aid for all the SARpersonnel about to go on rescue. The ideacould be modified to the methods,procedures, terrain requirements and generalrescue demands of the particular team. Itwould certainly help those new to the team toconsider what they may need for the task inhand and save the time-served members thehassle of having to check they have what isneeded.

For comparison the sheets are as follows:–

ASSIGNED TO A TECHNICAL RESCUE? YOUSHOULD KNOW HOW TO...� Put a harness on correctly.� Rappel (or abseil).� Ascend.� Belay with tandem prussics.� Wrap three pull two (anchors).� Create a load sharing anchor.� Make a load release hitch.� Operate a brake rack.� Tie a munter hitch.� Tie a clove hitch.� Tie interwoven long tailed bowlines.� Tie prussics.� Make a 3:1.� Pass a knot on lower or raise.

FLYING TO THE TOP? YOU WILL NEED...� Nomex flying suit.� Leather boots.� Leather gloves.� Ear protection.� Eye protection.� Helmet.� Harness.� Ascenders/prussics.� Descender device.� Rain gear.� Headlamp� Spare batteries.� Water.� Food.

SITUATIONAL AWARENESS TRIGGERS...� Many people talking loudly.� Spaghetti rope/rigging.� Rushing/perceived urgency.� Whining team members.� Mental baggage/distractions.� Change in situation.� Plan is not working.� Change in weather.� Multiple incidents.� Pressure from above

(chief on your case)� Helicopters.� Unable to communicate with team.� Summit fever.

In in various rooms in the base, there isa mouse proof steel cabinet containing foodand ready to eat meals – useful if a teammember has come directly from work or thehill on a call-out. There’s also a small butfunctional workshop where equipment can berepaired or made specifically to function. Withthe battery rechargers is a device capable offinding how much life these batteries arecapable of maintaining. When they get belowa certain charge capacity they are binned –what’s the point in carrying kit that doesn’twork?

Like any mountain rescue base there arethe communications, base radio, telephones,pagers and computers. Other items of interestare the loud hailers or PA system, used whenthere’s an incident on the big walls, like ElCapitan and Half Dome. Combined withbinoculars and spotter scopes, and powerfulspotlights at night, the team here are able tocommunicate with the stranded or injuredparty and then develop a rescue plan. I’m notsuggesting we add these items to our alreadyoverburdened rescue rucksacks, but it’s apractical solution to a serious problem andmeans there is more situational information,which is always a good thing. Perhaps itwould be useful if teams had access to suchkit if it were needed, say in the instance ofsevere crag-fast casualties?

Stashed away in various corners, allmanner of rescue equipment awaits use.Huge bags containing 1200 foot ropes for themassive lowers required when climbers arestranded or injured on the big walls. Haulbags for lowering or dragging kit to theincident – heavy duty neoprene coated sackswith clip-in strapping points. Boxes andcabinets of climbing hardware – though Icould find very little with a toothed cam, likethe Jumar or the ID. The opinion on this kindof climbing aid that they represent a dangerto the rope itself, that they can shear throughin excessive load situations – somethingworth avoiding by any measure.

Incidents andTraining

1 December 2002: Acting searchand rescue co-coordinator John Dill invitedme to assist in the re-investigation of anaccident site at Washington Column,Yosemite Valley. The apparently simple taskof locating the final resting position of thecasualty by matching the incidentphotographs with the terrain was madedifficult by the two year difference in time.Trees had grown slightly and rocks hadshifted on the scree slope. After some twohours of attempting to identify the exact sitewe eventually made a match by co-incidingthe views from the climb he was on, lookingback down to ground and the final restposition photographs.

2 December 2002: Ranger CharlieFullam invited me to a training session atCrane Flats, sixteen miles north and west ofYosemite Valley. In a mixed ability group ofexperienced search and rescue workers andnewcomers, the session focused on thepractical ‘Rigging for Rescue’ winchingtechniques, featuring pulleys and directionalbelays, also how to tie into the Stokes Litter.The absence of any devices with toothedcams was noted, the alternative being prussichitches at key positions in the system. Thegroup looked at the Secure Casualty Bag

System and immediately understood itsapplication and function. We tested casualtystability and comfort by linking the casbag,initially with karabiners only, fixing on theStokes Litter frame and later utilised thecasbag exterior closure straps by linking themto the Stokes Litter frame. They also used alock-on wheel, which absorbed a lot of theshock when covering uneven and rockyground.

The volunteer casualty gets a thoroughshaking to test the interface between theStokes Litter/stretcher and the SecureCasualty Bag System linked by webbing andkarabiners.

8 December 2002: At 13.00 hours,an emergency call was received concerninga lady on the upper Yosemite Falls trailexperiencing breathing difficulties. I offered toassist Ranger Chris Cagle and was given anoxygen cylinder to carry. He made very rapidprogress to the casualty, being an active fellrunner, and had already administeredepinephrine by the time I arrived, someminutes behind him. The oxygen wasn’tneeded, so I provided assistance by allowingthe lady to lean on my arm on the descent.She had inadequate footwear for thesteepness and grittiness of the trail, slippingmany times in which she could have hurtherself. We were met at Camp 4 by anambulance crew who took charge of thecasualty for further checks at the ValleyMedical Center.

Causing the breathing problems was aswollen tongue, the result of a histaminereaction to over-exertion. This situation couldhave been far more serious if it were not forthe rapid response and correct administrationof medicine. Call-out ended around 16.30hours.

22 December 2002: At 12.45hours, Warner, Merry Braun and myself werediverted whilst on Northside Drive by PohonoBridge by an MVA (Motor Vehicle Accident)call on the radio. Deciding to offer ourassistance, we were second on the scene. Asaloon car with two Koreans and a sportsutility vehicle with six English tourists hadcollided on a heavily iced road. First on thescene, and witness to the collision was a firetruck, Brian Hanson a fireman and ToddBruno a Park Ranger reacted immediately byengaging road safety/traffic control and triage.

On arrival we were tasked with variousfunctions as the situation was clearly seriousand the two men were over-burdened. Brianasked me if I had first aid training – which Ihave as a member of Skye MRT – and I wastasked to give assistance with spinal stabilityfor the Korean passenger who had a six inchwound to the head, which was bleedingprofusely. He had not been wearing aseatbelt, enforced by Californian law. Once hewas safely transferred to a backboard andsecured with a ‘spider’, a Velcro strap system,which locates on the rim of the backboardhoist points, I was then given the task ofassisting. All were suffering from variousdegrees of shock and beginning to suffer fromthe cold. We were in the sun’s shadow and upabout 4500 foot contour with heavy snow andtemperature approx 5˚F.

The elderly male driver was complainingof chest pain and had a history of heart

Yosemite National Park is situated at the southern end of the Rocky Mountains, in the SierraNevada range. Paul Rosher spent a couple of months working and training with them in thewinter of 2002/3, sponsored by the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust. A heavily glaciated

granite valley, Yosemite contains some of the worlds largest rock walls, a feature that attractsclimbers, mountaineers and general tourists the world over. The park is run and attended by theDepartment of the Interior who also fund the search and rescue team. The search and rescuefunction is managed in each district with the overall programme management based in YosemiteValley, which has the highest visitation of all districts and is also the administrative centre of thepark. Yosemite Search and Rescue, or YOSAR for short, have the task of working with the ParkRangers and other emergency services to provide a professional rescue response to a wide rangeof accident situations. From the tourist with a twisted ankle to the big wall climber injured on themassive 3200ft face of El Capitan.

Paul Rosher on two months with Yosemite Search and Rescue

Rocky mountain rescue

TOP: FIRST SNOWS OF WINTER ON HALF DOME,SPINDRIFT AVALANCHES TO LEFT FRAME

ABOVE: SOFT SNOW AVALANCHES ABOVEYOSEMITE SEARCH AND RESCUE TEAM BASE ORSAR CACHE

LE COMTE GULLY, GLACIER POINT. HALF DOMEMAIN FACE APPROACH

ALL

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TOS

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UL

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complaints. He was difficult to move andneeded immediate medical attention. Theothers suffered from whiplash and the effectsof the chill. All were extricated on securedbackboards and taken by ambulance to theYosemite Clinic for medical care. Although inScottish Mountain Rescue we are not trainedfor road accidents, it’s worthy of note thatbasic first aid is the same whateveremergency situation we find ourselves in.

Two of the casualties were laterevacuated by helicopter for further care.Another noteworthy feature of this incidentwas the manner in which themembers of differentemergency services co-operated and communicatedclearly in a difficult situation.The fire services, paramedics,the Park Rangers and searchand rescue all worked easilyand professionally togetherwith common terminology andeventual successful outcome.

28 December 2002:At 20.30 hours my pagerinformed me of a call outsituation on El Capitan.Blizzard conditions prevailedwith light winds. At SAR CacheI kitted-up with the rest of theteam as we received our brief. Jack Hoeflichheaded out initially to get first contact with thecasualty, who had been heard shouting forhelp around 19.00 hours by other climbers.This situation was verified a rescue matterwhen he was heard again shouting forassistance around 20.00 hours. Initially, I wasteamed with Dave Horne, Edward Visnovskeand Mark Faherty, our task to attempt toilluminate the 3200 foot wall with a portablefloodlight unit attached to the flatback truck.This didn’t work as the snow was too heavyand all we created was a useless blur of light.

We were then given the task of headingup the mountain to group with and assistJack. Dave and I made our way through deep,soft snow to the incident location and saw thecasualty hanging motionless about 25 feetfrom the ground and 15 feet out from the wall.He had been solo aid climbing a route called

‘Zodiac’. A fixed rope about 60 foot away fromthe casualty afforded the only access up theoverhanging wall. We waited till Ed, Mark andTodd Bruno arrived on scene with additionalequipment. Of prime note was the telescopicextending ‘cheater stick’ which allowed EdVisnovske to hook an open snap karabinerwith an attached rope to the casualty’sharness. Simultaneously, Jack was ascendingthe fixed rope with jumars and the same rope,which connected to the casualty. During theoperation, my task was to illuminate the actionwith a large halogen spotlight. As Jack pulled

on the casualty’s rope, they slowly drewtogether in mid-air. At no time did Jack havehis feet on the wall to brace or assist. Oncethe casualty was reached Jack rigged asimple lower with a back-up anchor forsecurity. At this point the casualty’s conditionwas not fully determined, so a careful lowerwas needed. Once on the ground, Edwarddid a thorough check and considered theclimber deceased. Around 01.00 hours otherteam members appeared with additionalequipment including a Cascade Tobogganand my Secure Casualty Bag System, whichsadly was not needed. We packaged thedeceased into the litter/stretcher and beganthe task of extricating the casualty to theroadside – not easy due to the slippery snowconditions, referred to in Skye MRT as ‘soap’.

We reached the roadside around 04.30hours. I think all of us were wet and had

slipped or fallen during the duration of thecarryout. The cold was an incentive not tohang around, so it was straight back to SARCache and de-kit. The casualty was deliveredto Jim Tucker who had the unenviable task ofascertaining his identity.

30 December 2002: A group of sixwas sent in to retrieve the enormous amountof climbing equipment, food, clothing andtrash remaining at the incident location. Thiswe achieved by packing the CascadeToboggan completely, strapping it tight anddragging it down the mountain. An interesting

note is that the toboggan does not do well onmixed snow and rock. It was heavily scoredand damaged, acquiring a few holes duringboth times out. Clearly it is intended for snowand ice only.

The climber who came to grief that nighthad much experience and had managed todescend over 350 foot before he ran out ofrope. He had attached slings and etriers in anattempt to extend his line down. He may havedropped his head torch and had been unableto estimate the distance of fall to the ground.An open penknife was found on his harness,he must have considered cutting the slingattaching him to his rope and risking the fall tothe ground. He gave it his best shot, tragicallyperishing of hypothermia within sight of all thevery equipment which would have made allthe difference. Although I am deeply aware ofthe human loss in this situation, and wouldhave rather had that man reach his bivouac oreven risk a short fall and be rescued alive, thereal outcome cannot be changed. It was apleasure to work alongside these men (andone woman) and have the opportunity to beassisting in this incident.

1 January 2003: A meeting washeld to attempt to get a clear picture of thisincident. A number of additional featuresemerged which helped explain the deceasedclimber’s last hours. No rucksack has beenfound as yet, suggesting he had expected toreturn to his bivvy for food and warm clothing.A looped section of rope had not been utilisedand was redundantly left at the third pitch of‘Zodiac’. Perhaps he intended to return thefollowing day and left this rope in place tosave him time? Ironically it could have savedhis life. Also he had left behind on the thirdpitch, two webbing ladders that could havegiven him an extra fifteen foot, giving him onlya ten foot drop to the ground. Finally, a bluebruise was found on his neck caused by the

sling from his climbing hammer as it hadcaught in his etrier. Asphyxia was partiallyresponsible for his demise. Jack Hoeflichrealised that when he cut the casualty free forthe lower, he had severed this hammerlanyard alone and that was all that wassecuring him. He was attempting to lowerhimself when he snagged and lacking thestrength to free himself slowly froze andstrangled to death. It seems now that acombination of mishaps accrued to result inthis sad conclusion.

4 January 2003: During adiscussion about patient/casualty packagingusing webbing, a call came in for assistancefor a lady who had hurt her knee on atobogganing run near the Valley Stables.

John Dill, Donna Sisson and myself droveover with a litter and arrived to find twoRangers and two paramedics on scene. Theinjured woman had a serious kneedislocation, possibly a break, and was in a lotof pain. We secured her to the litter andpadded the legs as best we could, thoughshe complained when the injured leg wasattempted to be placed in the litter proper. Irigged a simple sling support from a toweland held the injury as we descended thepacked snow slope.

6 January 2003: Rangers DaveHorne, Todd Bruno and myself went down theValley to a shooting range in the hills aboveEl Portal. After an introduction to their rangesafety procedure I was coached in the use of.45 and 9mm automatic handguns, both SigSauer make, and later the AR16 rifle. Theytook me through both stationary and movingdrill with the pistol, also prone and standingrifle usage. It was an insight into a part ofRanger training, which is law enforcement, asregular target practice and arms drill isimportant. They said I did well, considering Ihad never fired a handgun before or used arifle other than .22 short or shotguns for smallgame. Afterwards we cleaned all the weaponsused by thoroughly stripping them down andoiling all moving parts.

8 January 2003: A finaldemonstration and discussion session on theSecure Casualty Bag System. Four Rangersattended and one member of the firedepartment. Many helpful points were madeand recorded and they all agreed it was easyto understand and operate. Everyone saw ithad relevance and took interest in thecontinued development of this item of rescueequipment.

The time I spent with Yosemite Searchand Rescue was a success in a number ofways. Of prime import was the friendly andhelpful attitude of the YOSAR team membersmaking it easy to feel at ease and assimilatethe operation of what was, for me, a verydifferent mountain rescue organisation. Theirprofessionalism was manifest across theboard – from the high degree of teammember fitness, the extreme grade rockclimbing skills, first aid abilities and the severerescue situations. I could trust myself to theircompany and their work and I was notdisappointed.

I joined Skye MRT in 1984. The yearsand experiences in that time prepared mesomewhat for what I would encounter duringmy placement. The quality of training wereceive in Skye is directly related to thedemands of the main mountain range in oursearch and rescue remit, the Cullins. TheMountain Rescue Committee of Scotlandincident log bears witness to the perils anddangerous epics our team has had to dealwith in these hills. In short, although myYOSAR placement was new, I had been wellprepared and trained for this by my time withthe Skye team. Without this I would havebeen out of my depth.

The feedback and the field tests of theSecure Casualty Bag System (a fullexplanation of the system was reported inMountain Rescue Magazine, October 2006)was of the greatest assistance to thedevelopment of this project. All of thesuggestions and design modifications werenoted in my personal log. Their criticism wasalways totally relevant and constructive,furthermore, they have expressed an interestin the product and I have an open invitationto return. This will occur, as it is only fair to letthese people see the outcome of theircontributions.

It was insightful to be part of an entirerescue process, from call-out to clean-up andfinal dissemination of the incident in the de-brief and analysis of the 1 January. On thenight of the El Capitan incident I had toilluminate Ranger Jack Hoeflich with aspotlight as he ascended, grappled andlowered the casualty to the ground. At nopoint could he touch the rock face to brace orbalance. This demonstrated the skill andnerve of the YOSAR team – not that I doubtedtheir abilities to begin with.

A personal and welcome advancementwas the rock climbing sessions with the team.They helped me improve my grades andcoached me on extreme routes the like ofwhich I had never dared to attempt before.This also has a benefit for my Skye teamcommitments in that I will be more confident,and therefore more use, in demanding rescuesituations.

The Yosemite Valley is regarded as aMecca for climbers worldwide, justifiably so,as it has to be one of the world’s mostbeautiful places in which to develop one’sclimbing abilities. Finally, my completeappreciation to the Winston ChurchillMemorial Trust for the award by which Ideveloped and built the Secure Casualty BagSystem and financed the Yosemite visit.

THE PORTALEDGE AND HAUL BAGS, ALL OF THE ESSENTIAL KIT WITHIN FIFTY FEET OF THE CASUALTY

WEAPONS TRAINING WITH .45 AUTOMATICHANDGUN

The Kendrick Extrication Device:This lightweight pack contains anadjustable back and neck board, whichcan securely immobilise anymovement of the casualty’s head.

The Stokes Litter:This features regularly inYOSAR rescue situationsand incidents. A very sturdyaluminum alloy stretcher that combines the opentop railing to give more handholds and tie downpoints and the plastic pan to give more securecontainment of the patient. The stretcher hasaluminum tube frame with cross bars under theplastic pan and webbed attachment points for extrastrength. The Stokes Litter will accommodate a1980mm x 400mm spine board. Also available aswire basket with wooden slats or full aluminum pan.This system is still lighter than current McInnesmodels used in Scottish mountain rescue androbust enough for heavy-duty use on rock and ice.

The Cascade Toboggan:The attraction of this stretcher/litter is its light weightand apparent ability to be used on snow, ice androck. It is helicopter compatable and has acicumferal steel frame for tying-in and securing thecasualty. Weighing less than 20lbs, this two-partsystem was thoroughly checked out.

The SKED Litter/Stretcher:I was initially introduced to the SKED at the caverescue base at Ingleton in Yorkshire by team leaderDave Gillimore. At first, I thought it looked flimsy andwould not protect the casualty from the shock ofimpacts and bumps when in transit. Perhaps if thecasualty was padded it would be lessuncomfortable. The advantages are its use in anytight confined spaces such as chimney and gullyincidents, it is also light, adjustable, simple to useand easy to haul across snow. Considering therehas not been, as yet, a caving accident on the Isleof Skye, it could be advantageous to have one atbase in the eventuality of an incident, allowing us torespond.

The Heatpac:An item of kit used for warming casualties orrescuers in adverse cold conditions. Light and easyto use it has the advantage over ‘teabag’ typeheaters in that it is adjustable and reusable. It is alsohighly efficient and could be used safely in a thermalbag to generate lots of warmth. Equally, it could beused in a bivouac bag and it runs for between ten totwenty hours, depending on adjustment. It runs oncharcoal blocks and has various attachments.

The equipment

‘...he must have considered

cutting the sling attaching himto his rope and risking the fallto the ground. He gave it hisbest shot, tragically perishingof hypothermia within sight ofthe very equipment which wouldhave made all the difference...

M O U N T A I N R E S C U E M A G A Z I N EA P R I L 2 0 0 7 P A G E 25M O U N T A I N R E S C U E M A G A Z I N EP A G E 24 A P R I L 2 0 0 7

There was a legend amongst the MiwokIndians – who inhabited Yosemite Valley sinceprehistoric times – of a young woman whorecovered the body of her lover, fallen from thecanyon’s upper rim to the base of Lost Arrow.If there is any truth in this archaic tale, thenhers was the first mountain rescue on recordin Yosemite, albeit in folklore.

This Indian maiden, Kos-soo-kah,created a rope from Lodgepole Pine saplingsjoined with deer thongs and descended to herdead friend about 220 feet down. As withcurrent mountain rescue recoveries wherethere is no helicopter to assist, it took thelifting power of many others to bring themback to the top. In this case, it was themembers of her tribe. The legend states that,despite her noble efforts she died of grief,poor girl. This story has been reported bymany varied sources and has at its coredetermination, ingenuity, bravery and aremarkable mountain rescue achievement.

In 1833, the first Caucasians are said tohave visited Yosemite Valley. JosephReddeford Walker and his party were said tobe amazed at the ‘sheer walls, loftyescarpments and huge waterfalls’. They alsoreported that it was utterly impossible toascend. Human nature being what it is, suchclaims have to be investigated and, by 1851,the Valley and its wonders became known tothe world.

The cavalry of the Mariposa Battalionfollowed Indian raiders to Ahwahnee in theValley itself after they had been attackingfarmers and settlers. With some allowance forthe pursuit, this would constitute the firstofficial search, for that is what they would havehad to do.

In 1855, James M Hutchings was one ofthe first tourists to come to Yosemite with theintention of climbing every high point aroundthe Valley, a big achievement in its day andsetting the tone for much that was to follow.

Any accidents in these times had to be dealtwith by the guides and whoever they couldhire to assist.

In 1860, John Muir arrived, pioneer ofCalifornian mountaineering. His explorationsand route finding have entered into the historyof this place, echoed in the place names andfeatures. The numbers of visitors began toincrease dramatically, bringing environmentaland safety concerns. So in 1890, a NationalPark was created, mainly due toconservationists like Muir, who is said to havea great involvement with Yosemite. Theseearly Park Rangers would have been the firstresponse to any accidents or injuries. For it iswithin their remit as an established agency tomaintain regulations to protect the area andits visitors. A wise move, considering thefloods of tourists which began to arrive.

Mountaineering groups like the SierraClub of San Francisco began the climbingexplorations of the natural first lines of ascentin Yosemite from the 1930s onward. Exploringthese huge walls, seeking the routes ofeasiest run, they began a process stillhappening today, that of finding new andinteresting ways up these enormous walls tothe top. Many famous climbers have comeand gone, Robert Underhill in the 30s, JohnSalathe in the 40s, Mark Powell in the 50s,Royal Robbins in the 60s to name a few.

By 1968 the basic techniques of raisingand lowering a casualty had been developed,the core of the system is still in use today. Thenumbers of rock climbers (as opposed totourists) was increasing and, by the 70s, theera of extreme wall ascents had definitelybegun.

I remember as a boy reading my uncle’sclimbing magazines – the exploits of folk likeJim Bridwell were reported in Britishpublications, over 5000 miles away. Thestories were consumed by a generation of

mountaineer rock climbers, like my uncles,who found first ascents in Wales and Scotlandand lived for the long weekends away climbing.Of course, accidents occurred, the everincreasing standards, or grades, of difficultymeant that this dangerous recreation wasbecoming more so.

One early technical rescue involvedWarren Harding and his climbing partner GalenRowell. They had been attempting anunclimbed route on Half Domes extremelyserious vertical face. An autumnal storm hitthem and they became cragfast – that is, stuckon the wall and unable to move. They had tohang in their hammocks for several daysenduring cold rain and snow. They had lost allstrength and could not move up or down. TheYosemite search and rescue team werehelicoptered to the top of Half Dome wherethey rigged the anchors for a long lower. Theby-then famous Royal Robbins was loweredover 300 metres through the mist, directing thedescent by radio and eventually finding the twostranded climbers in their portaledge bivouac.He then assisted them in ascending the ropewith jumars – a technical aid device allowingthe rope to be climbed easily – and broughtthem safely to the top.

The YOSAR team now have a history ofrescues like this and have developedtechniques and procedures entirely as aresponse to the severity of these immensewalls of granite. The majority of team membersare extreme grade climbers, EMT trained(Emergency Medical Training) and, in the main,hold National Park related jobs. Some of theirmembers have skills in rock climbing andtechnical rescue at a very advanced level andare greatly respected in the climbingcommunity both for their achievements, abilityand character.

History of climbing andrescue in Yosemite

JIM BRIDWELL, EX YOSAR TEAM, PLACING A PITON WITH HIS TEETH AND ON A BIG WALL RESCUE SITUATIONPHOTOS THIS PAGE: COURTESY OF WERNER BRAUN

WERNER BRAUN. BIG WALL CLIMBING BACK IN THE 1970S

YOSEMITE FALLS.EVERYONE PHOTOGRAPHS THIS PLACE.DARE ANYONE NOT TO!PHOTO: PAUL ROSHER

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Over the years I’ve assumedpeople take part for a wide variety ofreasons, but have never testedwhether my assumptions areaccurate. The questionnaire sent toeach member included fifty itemsdescribing why people might beinvolved. Everyone was asked toindicate on a five-point scale howstrongly each item referred to theirown circumstances.

A basic statistical analysis of thequestionnaire data is shown in Table 1.It ranks each of the fifty itemsaccording to the overall strength offeeling. To do this I used a simpleconversion to compute an averagescore for each item (‘Applies VeryStrongly’ = 1, ‘Applies Strongly’ = 2and so on to ‘Does Not Apply At All’ =5). In the table, those items with anaverage close to 1 show the itemapplies strongly whereas items withan average score close to 5 indicatesthe item applies less strongly. I’minterested in those close to 1.

The item at the top of the list‘Helping others in distress’ has amean score of 1.28, which indicatesthat for the vast majority of people thisitem applies very strongly. In fact, themajority of people ticked a single box– ‘Applies Very Strongly’ (see Table 2).

In contrast, the item at thebottom of the list ‘Opportunity toexperience fifteen minutes of fame’attracted responses mainly in thecategory ‘Does not apply at all’ (seeTable 3).

The information in Table 1 issimple to describe and assess.Taking the top ten items it follows thatmembers are involved in order to helpothers in distress, to learn new skillsand use existing mountain skills, tosee a job through to completion andfor the banter with colleagues. If wetake the lowest ranked items it followsthat members are not involved for thekudos or glory, the opportunity toacquire cheap gear, to boast abouttheir involvement in MR or fill time withsomething useful. This seems entirelylogical and consistent with what Ihave seen and heard over the yearsabout people involved in MR. It couldbe said that the top ranked items aresomewhat old fashioned and illustratea rather altruistic approach to ourwork – somewhat at odds with theselfish attitude that tends to prevailsin today’s society!

If asked for a view about why weare involved in MR I would have nohesitation in reporting the findingsabove. It’s worth noting that theseviews represent the team in questionas a whole as every single membercompleted the questionnaire.Whether they represent the feelings ofother teams in Scotland or elsewherein the UK is another matter, but mygut feeling is the opinions of otherteams would not differ greatly.However, before you go and tell theworld what I have found, read on a bit.

The data was subject to a

secondary and more in-depth datareduction statistical analysis,designed to collapse the informationfrom fifty individual items into alesser number of factors. Inquestionnaires of this kind it followsthat people tend to respond in thesame way to certain questions,especially if the questions surrounda single, central topic. For example,you might expect people for whomthe item ‘Opportunity to developsafety knowledge’ applies strongly,to feel the same way about the item‘Making mountaineering safer’.

Similarly, you would expectpeople to respond in a similar way tothe items ‘Being in the public eye’and ‘Opportunity to experience 15minutes of fame’. A procedure calledfactor analysis examines thesimilarities in the way peoplerespond and identifies clusters ofitems where people respond in thesame way. The logic which can thenbe applied to explaining the findingsis that if people do respond in thesame way to groups of items, thenthose items must be measuring thesame thing. As a consequence, theanalysis reduces the original list ofitems (50 in the present case) to amuch lesser number of factors –possibly just three or four. In this way,it deepens the level of analysis, andhence and understanding, of thetopic by attempting to determine theprinciples, which underlie people’sresponses. The interesting and oftenchallenging part of this procedure isto explain what these principles are.It’s a process that best involvesseveral people, each sharing theirexpertise and adding their owninterpretations to the data. As a start,I’ve made an attempt to identify theprinciples. It may be others disagreewith my interpretation or would makeslight adjustments. I am more thanhappy for readers to make comment.

The factor analysis revealed sixdifferent factors. I’ll take them inorder of importance or strength (bythis I mean degree of association oragreement across team members).The items which make up the firstfactor are listed in Table 4.

To recap, everyone tended torespond to these ten items in asimilar way. A cursory glance wouldsuggest they do describe the samekinds of things. Common elementsare challenge, excitement anduncertainty. The task is to identifywhat all this means. What is theunderlying motive that brings all(almost) of these items together?

This is where it helps to

brainstorm with other people. Thechallenge is to find a single word orperhaps a small phrase that distilsthe essence of each item. I’m goingto go for the word ADVENTURE. Inother words, the single mostimportant motive behind peoples’involvement in mountain rescue is toexperience adventure. If this is truethen I can see why this is the case. Ifrequently hear people talk aboutrescue work providing a break fromthe tedium of ordinary life. It providesa bit of excitement, whilstsimultaneously helping others. It’salso worth noting, from well-established motivation theory, thatpeople do seek excitement in theirlives as a way of increasing arousallevels. We all need a degree of stress(some more than others) in order toperform at an optimal level.

Table 5 lists the items that makeup the second most important factor.The key words here are satisfaction,achievement, player, working withothers. I think this factor isconnected with the key purposebehind mountain rescue work andespecially the achievement of aspecific outcome. It’s alsoconcerned with working with other


Mountain rescue......why do we do it?

Last year, I contacted all members of one of Scotland’s teams with a request to complete a questionnairedesigned to determine why people are involved in mountain rescue. This request was based on a wishto obtain more objective information on a subject about which I am frequently asked. Why do you do

it? What attractions are there? Why do you risk your life? Do you not feel you should be paid? These are someof the questions I am presented with. As many readers will know, the Press especially are always eager for adramatic answer – Why do you risk your life? or Do you get annoyed at the stupid people you have to rescue?

Bob Sharp examines our motives

TABLE 1. OVERALL RANKING FOR EACH ITEM

RANK MEANHelping others in distress 1 1.28Sense of achievement 2 1.62Opportunity to learn new skills 3 1.76Opportunity to use my mountain skills 4 1.86Giving time as a volunteer 5 1.97Opportunity to develop own mountain skills 6 2.00Satisfaction in seeing job through to completion 7 2.03Playing an important role 8 2.10Opportunity to develop safety knowledge 9 2.10Banter, chat with team members 10 2.14Challenge working against weather elements 11 2.21Satisfaction in working with like minded people 12 2.24The challenge that accompanies serious rescues 13 2.24Working as a team member 14 2.28Achieving a specific goal 15 2.28Opportunity to spend more time in the hills 16 2.41Challenge of medical element 17 2.41Opportunity to help others develop skills 18 2.45Doing my bit for the local community 19 2.48Enjoyment of physical hardship 20 2.59Playing a part in a unique organisation 21 2.66Playing a significant role within a larger team 22 2.69Excitement that accompanies a rescue 23 2.69Contributing to the wider MR framework 24 2.69Challenge provided by technical rescues 25 2.69Meeting people outside work circle 26 2.72Working with people from different backgrounds 27 2.72Opportunity to make new friends 28 2.90Making mountaineering safer 29 2.90Opportunity to learn more about environment 30 2.93Challenges of unsociable hours 31 2.93Satisfaction working with other emergency services 32 3.00Opportunity to socialise with members 33 3.07Opportunity to use my leadership skills 34 3.07Uncertainty associated with rescues 35 3.07Opportunity to manage resources 36 3.10Helping fundraising 37 3.21Uncertainty in not knowing what is involved 38 3.31To provide a break from daily life 39 3.31A central player within the emergency services 40 3.38To experience risks 41 3.41Satisfaction is telling others 42 3.41Talking to others about MR work 43 3.41To fill my time with something useful 44 3.59Kudos from carrying out a worthwhile task 45 3.83Advance payment for own rescue 46 4.03Kudos in regard to work and friends 47 4.07Being in the public eye 48 4.21Acquiring discounted gear 49 4.38Opportunity to experience 15 minutes of fame 50 4.76

TABLE 2.FREQUENCY COUNTS FORTHE ITEM ‘HELPINGOTHERS IN DISTRESS’

NUMBER

Applies Very Strongly 21

Applies Strongly 8

Average 0

Applies Weakly 0

Does Not Apply At All 0

TABLE 3.RESULTS FOR THE ITEM,‘OPPORTUNITY TOEXPERIENCE 15 MINS OFFAME’

NUMBER

Applies Very Strongly 0

Applies Strongly 0

Average 1

Applies Weakly 5

Does Not Apply At All 23

TABLE 4. COMPONENTS OFFACTOR 1Challenge working against weather

elements

The challenge that accompanies

serious rescues

Enjoyment of physical hardship

Challenges of unsociable hours

Uncertainty associated with rescues

To experience risks

Uncertainty in not knowing what is

involved

Excitement that accompanies a

rescue

To provide a break from daily life

Challenges provided by technical

rescues

TABLE 5. COMPONENTS OFFACTOR 2Satisfaction in seeing job through to

completion

Playing a part in a unique

organisation

A central player within the

emergency services

Satisfaction working with other

emergency services

Achieving a specific goal

Satisfaction in working with like

minded people

Sense of achievement

Contributing to the wider MR.

framework

Working as a team member

Helping others in distress

Saturday9 May 2007Big BlackMountainChallengeThree challenging walks/runs. Allproceeds in aid of Longtown MRTDue to the popularity of this event,Longtown are unable to accept onthe day entries.For further details go towww.longtownmrt.org.uk or sendSAE to Big Black MountainChallenge, Longtown MRT, PO Box36, Monmouth NP25 5YZ.

Saturday 9 to Sunday17 June 2007Anglesey Walking FestivalCoastline and countryside walks, guided walks, events andentertainment. Sample local produce. Walks open to all, includingwheelchair users.For further details go to www.angleseywalkingfestival.com

Saturday 7 July 2007Rossendale Way in a DayTwo challenging walks along the Rossendale Way – 46 mile circularwalk and the shorter 22 mile linear walk. All proceeds in aid ofRossendale & Pendle MRT. Entry £12.50 adults; £7.50 under-16s.For further details go to www.rpmrt.org.uk or send SAE to JudyWhiteside, Rossendale & Pendle MRT, 46 Clegg Street, Haslingden,Lancashire BB4 5LW.


people/agencies to a common goal.Taking all this together, I’m going tocall this factor ACHIEVEMENT. Theremight be another expression such asTEAMWORK that is better.

Table 6 describes the thirdfactor. This is an interesting onebecause it defines the negative itemslisted in the questionnaire. You willnote that these items are all rankedvery low in Table 1. A key word thatdescribes these would be EGO.Members seem to agree on theseitems, but the underlying factordescribes why people are notinvolved in mountain rescue. So,even though there is commonagreement here, the factor does notexplain why we are involved in rescuework.

Table 7 describes the fourthfactor, which seems to be connectedwith learning new skills and meetingdifferent people. This seems to be alaudable aim and probably reflectsnot only the need for members tolearn new skills but also thetherapeutic value in working in anenvironment different from work andhome. I call this factor LEARNING.

Table 8 describes the fifth factor,which clearly focuses on SOCIAL

INVOLVEMENT – meeting differentpeople, working with others and thebanter when team members worktogether.

Table 9 describes the sixthfactor. I’m not fully sure how to definethis one. It clearly focuses on contactwith other people but it’s not thesocial aspect as identified in theprevious factor. I’m inclined tosuggest it’s connected withleadership, authority or some kind ofcontrol. On balance, I’m going withthe milder expression INFLUENCE,but I’m prepared to change here.

ConclusionWhy are we involved in

mountain rescue? What motivatesus? Why do people stay in mountainrescue for so long? This study was aninitial attempt to provide someobjective answers. It should be saidthat, from a statistical viewpoint, itwould have been beneficial toquestion many more people –perhaps everyone in Scotland(almost 1000 people). It should alsobe born in mind that the accuracy ofany explanation rests on the accuracyof the responses. I can only assumethat the members who completed thequestionnaire did so with diligenceand care for the truth.

The results are not unexpectedand are very clear given the smallamount of data. It seems there arefive key motivating forces behindpeoples’ involvement in mountainrescue. Firstly, and most important,team members enjoy the adventureand challenge that accompaniesmountain rescue. Risk taking, pittingoneself against bad weather and theuncertainty which is often central torescue work are important influences.Secondly, there is the process of taskfulfilment, achievement and workingwith others towards a common goal.Helping others in need andcombining strengths towards asuccessful and tangible outcome areessential motives. The third elementhas a technical edge. It’s important tolearn new skills from others anddevelop knowledge both specific tomountain rescue and perhaps withina wider mountaineering context.Fourthly, team members enjoy thesocial dimension to rescue work.Meeting people from differentbackgrounds and the banter, chatand camaraderie are important.Finally, the process where memberstry to influence or take responsibilityfor some aspect of rescue work iscritical.

In summary, the five key factorsthat motivate team members are:–1. Adventure and challenge2. Task fulfilment3. Learning new skills4. Social involvement5. Influence

Finally, it’s worth noting thatseveral members indicated theirmotives had changed over the years.This was especially the case for thelong-standing team members. Therewas too little data to examine this anyfurther.

If any team in England/Waleswould like me to run this survey withtheir own members I am very happyto distribute the questionnaire andanalyse the data. I can be contactedat [email protected] or 01360770431.

TABLE 6. COMPONENTS OFFACTOR 3Satisfaction is telling others

Kudos from carrying out a

worthwhile task

Acquiring discounted gear

Being in the public eye

Kudos in regard to work and friends

Opportunity to experience 15

minutes of fame

TABLE 9. COMPONENTS OFFACTOR 6Opportunity to help othersdevelop skillsOpportunity to manage resourcesHelping fundraisingTalking to others about MR work

TABLE 7. COMPONENTS OFFACTOR 4Opportunity to make new friends

Opportunity to develop own

mountain skills

Opportunity to develop safety

knowledge

Opportunity to learn new skills

TABLE 8. COMPONENTS OFFACTOR 5Opportunity to learn more about

environment

Banter, chat with team members

Opportunity to socialise with

members

Meeting people outside work circle

Working with people from different

backgrounds

ForthcomingEvents

Why not list your team fundraising event here?Send details to [email protected]

This year, the nine-dayAnglesey Walking Festival walks youround hill forts and standing stones,where you will learn the history ofour coastal and rural villages, andmarvel at the islands industrialheritage. The ‘Moelfre Maritime andAncient Past’ walk talks ofshipwrecks, cannibalism, smugglersand ghosts. Or try the ‘Lions Trail’ inLlanfair PG, named after the fourmagnificent lions that sit on eitherend of Britannia Bridge. Most walksare on the coastal footpath andfeature stunning scenery, flora andfauna with varied geological rockfaces, home to a large variety ofnesting bird colonies – especially onHoly Island – ideal for birdwatchers.

Further inland, see the old coalmines at Pentre Berw and, new for2007, we have two walks suitable forwheelchair users at National NatureReserves and the opportunity to hopon a bus and enjoy day tours takingyou on artists, church and localproduce trails.

All the walks are guided byprofessional, knowledgeable guideswho will help you get the most fromyour experience. There will be theopportunity to spend some eveningsin the company of local historians,and a chance to dine on local Welshproduce. Refreshments will beavailable in most places and somewill also include visits to localbusinesses.

Also this year, the Isle ofAnglesey coastline celebrates fortyyears as a confirmed Area ofOutstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).Most of the walks are withinAnglesey’s AONB and will beaccompanied by officers from theCountryside and AONB team.

There is a nominal fee per walk.Participants can also enjoy somewalks through the medium of Welsh.We hope this does not effect yourparticipation or enjoyment.

Anglesey WalkingFestival

9-17 June

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Mountain Rescue Magazinereader offer: 10% discount on all2007 holidays (excluding 14th Julyto 20th August). Quote ref:MRMA07.

The Peak District’s uniqueuniversity

One day you’re in one of the most spectacular educational venues inthe UK – the Devonshire Campus in Buxton, a Faculty of the University ofDerby – the next, your classroom is just as likely to be outdoors in the PeakDistrict, encountering some of the UK’s most spectacular landscapes.

That’s the reality, and the real excitement, of studying on courses suchas Outdoor Activities, Adventure Tourism, Sports Studies, and Sport &Recreation Management at the University of Derby Buxton.

Buxton’s curriculum is carefully designed to complement and respondto its Peak District setting, delivering a valuable balance of academic rigour,practical skills training and opportunities for work placement experience.Created by experts, these programmes prepare students for specialisedcareers, including mountain rescue, responding to identified skills needs.You’ll have the opportunity to participate in national governing body awardsin mountain leader training, rock climbing and canoeing.

The stunning Devonshire buildings encompass higher education– Foundation, single and joint honours degrees, and Master’s programmes– through the School of Culture and Lifestyle. They also extend theireducational reach much wider in the Faculty’s other School, the BuxtonCollege of Further Education. No other University offers lifelong learning at somany levels.

If you’re already employed, the University of Derby is a UK leader inproviding flexible learning through work options, and degrees you can designyourself, and it has created specialist degree programmes, such as theFoundation Degree in Voluntary Sector Management, in partnership with StJohn Ambulance.

Visitwww.derby.ac.uk/buxton, or call 01298 71100 for details.


An approach was made to HaroldBurrows, the chairman of National SARDA.This offer was passed around the country andeventually was left with me to agree terms withthe BBC so the offer could be taken up.

I made a trip to Durham in July 2005 andchose Corrie, one of the female pups. Shewas to young to leave Meg at that stage so areturn was booked for a few weeks later withthe first filming due to take place.

We arrived to meet Matt and the BluePeter film crew. I quickly learnt that as soon asthe cameras were involved then patience isthe name of the game. After four takes ofdriving into the farm entrance we progressedto knocking on the farm door! The otherlearning was filming out of sequence as wejumped back and forth in script, ticking off allthe separate scenes required to make thepiece of film. Eventually, after a long day, weleft for home with a new puppy ready to startthe process of house training and theintroductions to my other dogs at home.

The next filming was with a singlecameraman who came to a day’s training toget background footage. He quickly realisedthe issues with trying to film a search dog at

work several hundred metres away! However,we managed to set up some short finds to getsome good footage.

The next challenge came in Durham. Wereturned to film a puppy reunion and toupdate Blue Peter on the training so far. Corriewas in the midst of the runout phase of training, whereshe follows out a body whohas her toy. To be able tofilm this a camera crew, withsound man and producer,needed to stand in themiddle of the run out area –what may happen wasanyone’s guess. However,as Matt ran away with hertoy, Corrie completelyunphased ran straight by thefilm crew and completed thesequence to perfection. As usual though onetake was not enough, so Corrie got thechance to train some more!

All the filming up to now was with theother puppies. In January 2006, the firstfilming dedicated to Corrie was made. Thecrew and Matt Baker came up to Dumfries for

two days of filming. The first day was set upfor helicopter training with HMS Gannet. Oncue the helicopter arrived in the Galloway Hillsand, after the usual safety briefings, we setabout filming. The usual laid back filminginvolving several takes and discussion about

the best shots was put under severe pressureonce the rotors were turning!

After two hours flying and winching ontop of the Merrick, it was all over and wereturned to the landing area for interviews. Thecrew of Navy 177 were proudly presented withtheir Blue Peter badges.

To complete this filming a stock test at alocal farm and a Corrie search for Matt werefilmed nearer Moffat. This again took a daysfilming to get together and a challenge tomeet the film crew expectations withoutdisrupting Corrie’s training.

Once the editing of this section wascomplete, Corrie and I were flown to Londonto appear live on Blue Peter. This was anotherinteresting day and a real eye opener for howmany people are required to put out a thirtyminute live show.

Corrie’s training continues and I hope wewill make the grade and become an activesearch dog team to assist mountain rescue inScotland.

For more information about NationalSARDA go towww.nsarda.org.uk

On26May 2005 Meg, a border collie gave birthto five puppies on a farm near Durham. MattBaker, a presenter on Blue Peter, owns Meg

and had decided to breed from her. One of the BluePeter dogs, Meg’s progress is followed on theprogramme and it was decided by Matt and Blue Peterto offer some of the pups to working positions. Of thefive pups, two have stayed on the farm, one has goneto southern England as a trainee hearing dog for thedeaf and one has gone with the father to be asheepdog. It was decided to offer the other pup tobecome a trainee search and rescue dog with SARDA.

James Cole from SARDA Southern Scotland takes to the screen

Corrie and Blue Peter

Memorial wreath laid for1951 Lancaster crash

In the evening of 13 March 1951, an Avro Lancaster GR Mk3 TX264 of120 Sqn RAF left RAF KINLOSS for a night navigation exercise. While on thefinal leg of their training at around 02.00hrs on 14 March, and with only thirtyminutes till landing, it crashed into Beinn Eighe. The exercise had been flownin horrendous weather conditions with poor visibility, freezing conditions andstrong north easterly winds. The last radio message reported, ‘60 miles northof Cape Wrath’ with nothing else heard.

The aircraft had struck just fifteen feet from the summit, at the top of theinaccessible Far West Gully, above Loch Coire Mhic Fhearchair in theTorridon Mountains, which are above 3000ft. All eight aircrew were killed.

A RAF mountain rescue team was sent from RAF Kinloss but werehampered, as the site was remote and in the depth of a severe winter. All ofthe rescue gear had to be backpacked into the site, some nine miles overhostile terrain with the added problem of deep snow. Up until this crash, thebelief of senior officers had been that what was needed for mountain rescuewas fit stretcher-bearers and not mountaineers and so help from localmountaineers was initially spurned. As a result, only four bodies wererecovered in a relatively short time, while the other four would prove harderto find and take down the mountain, with the final body not recovered tillAugust. The wreckage of the Lancaster was destroyed in situ by explosives.

As a consequence of the crash and subsequent rescue, the RAFmountain rescue teams were reorganised into the organisation we knowtoday.

Former members of Kinloss MRT, Peter McGowan and Tom Taylor aswell as five current team members placed a wreath at the memorial plaqueof the Lancaster. They were accompanied by a Royal Navy helicopter fromHMS Gannet search and rescue base at Prestwick International Airport –pertinent as the original MRT were assisted by a Royal Marine Commandoand RN Lt, with more climbing experience that the team members.

Shewee launches X-frontsfor women

Ever since God created mankind, and decided Adam needed that somethingextra to woo Eve, man has always had one small but significant advantage over thefairer sex – the ability to stand and pee!

It may not have been something women ever felt they wanted to do, but withuncomfortable squatting, unhygienic toilets or embarrassing bare bottoms a thingof the past, Shewee has shown thousands of women all over the world what they’vebeen missing!

And now there’s a perfect accessory to this perfect accessory – X-fronts forwomen. But why?! Ok, if you’re imagining those saggy crotched, off-beige pantsworn by guys called Nigel then you’ll probably think these aren’t for you. But Sheweehas made women want to pee standing up – and if they can do this then reinventingeven this ‘style icon’ must be a walk in the park.

Short, tight and in the pink that makes all women look gorgeous these reallyare more than a gimmick. Yup, they do encourage the wearer to ‘stand up and takecontrol’ (and have a hole in the front to slip a Shewee through!). They’re also sexierthan Eve’s fig leaf.

Shewee’s x-fronts for women are available on www.shewee.com nowfor £12. Shewee can also be bought at www.shewee.com for £5 plus postage.

For the past two summers, I’ve beenfortunate enough to work for the rangerservice based at the Coire Cas Car Park atCairngorm, providing me with a fantasticopportunity to do my bit to ‘give somethingback’ in the form of supporting the local bothynetwork. I have always felt very strongly thatthe bothies and howffs are an integral part ofour mountaineering culture here in the UK aswell as, of course, invaluable shelter in someof the remoter areas such as here in theCairngorms. How many of us have been verygrateful on the second night of a soggy ML tohead for the nearest bothy rather than anotherwet night under canvas?

Access via the funicular railway can putme into Fords of Avon or the Shelter Stonewithin an hour. So, a couple of times asummer, I have headed over with a large

empty rucksack, to be seen trudging backsometime later with it stuffed full to burstingwith rubbish. Ryvoan Bothy is on mycommute home from work if I take themountain bike option, so I often call by to seehow the place is doing. Fortunately, if theplace is bad then I can borrow the rescueteam Land Rover and drive to the door to clearit out. Access into some of the remoter partsof the Cairngorms is a little more illusive, sowhat better than to have friends with ahelicopter?

Some of you may remember the incidentlast February when RAF Lossiemouth had toabandon their Sea King Helicopter in the backof Coire an’t Sneachda during a rescue. Ibrought the crew down that night from thehelicopter whilst the rest of my colleagues onthe Cairngorm team looked after the climberwho had fallen and sustained a broken leg.Heading down out of the Coire in the pitchblack, thigh deep snow and high wind, we gotinto a conversation about bothies. I suggestedit would be great for a training exercise for thehelicopter crew if we could organise a flightaround the more remote bothies for a rubbishcollection – the idea had been born.

Following many phone calls, mechanicaldelays, weather delays etc. we tied down adate and amazingly all went very smoothly.Five AMI members plus myself were pickedup from Glenmore Lodge and four minuteslater landed on the summit of MacDhui for ourfirst call. The Sapper’s Hut (the old ruin builtduring military training approx 300m east of

the summit – all that remains is four walls andan old Lum). A very quick dash roundcollected half a sack of rubbish (I was veryconscious that the helicopter sitting waitingwas costing the tax payer huge amounts ofmoney!) Then we headed off to the GarbhCoire where Fran and John were winched out.Carl and myself were dropped at Corrour,Giles and Al at Hutchinsons. An hour later, theSea King returned as promised and weenjoyed some fantastic views of theCairngorms on out return trip to Glenmore.The team collected a total of fourteen sacks ofrubbish from the four different sites.

Those involved – AMI members CarlHaberl, Giles Trussel, Al Gilmour, FranPothecary and John Allen (Cairngorm MRTTeam Leader).


The Irish Mountain Rescue Association sawdelegates from eleven of the twelve teams in Irelandjoined by representatives from the mountain rescuecouncils of England & Wales, Scotland and theUSA, and invited guests. Delegates started arrivingFriday evening and, old acquaintances renewed, avery enjoyable social evening followed.

Saturday morning, to the delight of all, therewas a light covering of snow on Galtymore. MaryMullins, chair of the host team SEMRA (SouthEastern Mountain Rescue Association) and PatHolland, chair of IMRA, welcomed everyone andinvited Cllr Denis Leahy, the Mayor of TipperaryTown to say a few words. Mayor Leahy said he wasdelighted to attend and very proud the area had somany members working with the local team.Superintendent Paul Moran AGS Tipperary thenthanked the organisers and remarked that, when hearrived in Tipperary last year, one of his first outingswas up Galtymore on a charity walk organised bylocal Gardi and they were joined by members ofSEMRA on the day.

Cllr Joe Donovan Chairman of South TipperaryCo, Council officially open the conference. He

welcomed all to the Beautiful Glen of Aherlow, aplace he had lived all his life, hunting and walkingthe Galtee Mountains in pursuit of sport. Now, withmore and more people hill walking, he sawmountain rescue teams as a very important part ofthe community. He was sorry he could not attendthe dinner that night but wished all a safe andpleasant stay in the Glen, and invited all back towalk the Galtees when they had more time. A shortslide show representing the work and the peopleinvolved in Irish mountain rescue followed.

Conference sessions in the morning includeda presentation from Sgt Sorcha Fitzpatrick on‘Missing Persons’, and two case studies about ‘longsearches’ from the Kerry and Dublin/Wicklowteams. Rick Lorenz from Mountain RescueAssociation USA then gave a very enjoyable talkabout the work of MR in the states, his own team,and the laws and federal regulations that controlthem. Another session covered the topic ofinsurance for the volunteer. After a light lunch, sixworkshops enable delegates to discuss topicsranging from training, equipment and finance, thework of team leaders and secretaries.

In the evening, delegates were given ademonstration by the UK Lakeland team on realtime mapping and the use of GPS in searching.Another session dealt with the area of capital grantsand, with so many teams in Ireland looking toupdate vehicles and equipment and some nowlooking to build permanent bases, this was very wellattended.

Dinner was followed by a duologue by twoSEMRA teammembers – well done to Mark and Rayfor a memorable performance! Presentations weremade to members of various teams for exceptionalservice to mountain rescue and a raffle held foritems donated by local companies. A voluntarycollection was also made, with all proceeds going tohospice. Local musicians played in the bar of thehotel, and an informal social evening followed.

To the management and staff of AherlowHouse Hotel, thank you for all your help inorganising and your attention over the weekend.

Jimmy Barry PRO SEMRA

Irish Mountain Rescue Conference andAGM, Aherlow House Hotel

January 2007

Ithink without exception all AMI membersare excellent ambassadors forpromoting respect for our mountain

environment. Let’s face it – if we didn’t,we’d not have the fantastic resource we allmake a living from in the future. However,it’s sometimes not that easy to make adifference when we’re busy fulfilling clients’objectives and tied to a tight time scale.

Givingsomething back

Heather Morning of theAssociation of MountaineeringInstructors cleans up

PHOTOS: HEATHER MORNING

CARL HABERL AT CORROUR WITH RUBBISH�

RAF SEA KING LITTER GATHERING CORROUR�

TRASH FROM THE SHELTER STONE�


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Keela are producing a customised Cumulus

jacket specifically aimed for mountain rescue

teams, produced and designed to meet their

requirements, by offering ‘Bespoke Solutions’. This package is only available for mountain rescue teams

and emergency services.

As part of this launch Keela are expanding their ‘True Life Experience’ programme and require your

help. Any stories you may have involving Keela gear or pictures you have taken – whether on call or just

a weekend ramble – they want to hear from you. Winning submissions will be posted on the Keela website

and you will automatically be entered into a competition with the chance to be kitted out in some of their

System Dual Protection gear.For more details go to www.keela.co.uk

NEW FOR 2007 FROM KEELA

Bunkhouse accommodation, 4 rooms sleeping up to 24 people @ £11.50 per personper night. Optional equipment hire and instruction for outdoor activities available.

GRANT ROAD, GRANTOWN-ON-SPEY, MORAYSHIRE, PH26 3LDTel: 01479 872824 Email: [email protected]

www.ardenbeg.co.uk

AndyHolbornWGL/SPA Training & Assessment – Devon/Dartmoor.

MLA Training & Assessment – North Wales.Also Technical Advice and Training.

Tel: 01752 892421 Mobile: 07971 582849email: [email protected]

Member of the British Association of International Mountain Leaders

We don’t just Guide, but Instruct as well!The British Mountain Guides come in many different guises and

between them offer a fantastic range of specialist mountaineering services.Many have experience in the Greater Ranges, Ski touring, or Icefall climbingin Europe and Canada during the winter months. It goes without saying thatall BMG members will have extensive summer alpine, Scottish winter andUK rock climbing experience which will include an excellent knowledge ofimprovised rescue techniques. In recent years a number of Guides haveassisted several MR teams particularly where winter training is concerned.With the fickle winters of the last few years it is vitally important for teammembers to get the best training they can during the limited time available.Where the winter worries used to involve avalanches, (and still dooccasionally) for the most part they now consist of limited snow cover,verglas, little chance to keep skills up through lack of practice and vastlyincreased numbers when the conditions do come good. All in all a differentset of rules maybe from what many of us remember.

For further details see www.bmg.org.uk01690 720386 or [email protected]

Summer & Winter ML Training & Assessment

from £250.002007–2008

Summer & Winter ML Training & Assessment

from £250.002007–2008

We offer a comprehensive range of training courses tailored for MR teams

Conventional Navigation including GPS & Memory MapWilderness First Aid & Advanced Medic TrainingPatient Packaging for First Aiders & Medics

Wilderness Trauma & Wilderness Medical TrainingREC level 2 & 3 courses

WEMSI, WEMT and Command Physician

Our mountaineering and medical staff possess an extensive range of

qualifications in their chosen fields of expertise but, more importantly,

they have the field experience to back it up.

We offer a comprehensive range of training courses tailored for MR teams

Conventional Navigation including GPS & Memory MapWilderness First Aid & Advanced Medic TrainingPatient Packaging for First Aiders & Medics

Wilderness Trauma & Wilderness Medical TrainingREC level 2 & 3 courses

WEMSI, WEMT and Command Physician

Our mountaineering and medical staff possess an extensive range of

qualifications in their chosen fields of expertise but, more importantly,

they have the field experience to back it up.

For further course information please visit

www.climbmts.co.uk or telephone 01887 822 699

For details on any of the above please contact:NEWLANDS ADVENTURE CENTRE

STAIR, KESWICK, CUMBRIA CA12 5UF01768 778463 • www.activity-centre.com

NEWLANDS ADVENTURE CENTRE

• Great Food• Open All Year• Sleeps Up To 127• Large Meeting Room

• Comfortable Dormitories• Large Drying Room• Residents Bar• Fantastic Location

Newlands Adventure Centre Offers

Set in the peaceful Newlands Valley and surrounded by the northern fells and lakes, Newland’s Adventure Centre’s great location and facilities make

it the perfect base for your NGB courses, events, meetings, training workshops or seminars. Renowned for our friendly relaxed atmosphere

and highly professional standards, we guarantee you will have a memorable and enjoyable stay.

Looking for a warm and comfortable base to run your coursesfrom? Or somewhere to hold that seminar, party or promotion?

CORPORATE EVENTS AND TEAMDEVELOPMENT COURSESPlus... paintballing, rafting,

mountaineering and rock climbing,all in the Yorkshire Dales.Telephone: 01943 609334

email: [email protected]

GIRLGUIDING UKBlackland Farm

www.blacklandfarm.org.ukActivity Centre

TEL: 01342 810493 FAX: 01342 [email protected]

KEELA CUMULUS JACKET


MOUNTED WALL MAPSFOR RESCUE TEAMS

Ordnance Survey maps joined, mounted andlaminated to cover your specific operational area

Ring, write, fax or email for a detailedquotation with sizes and prices

Clearview Displays Limited246 Midland Road, Royston, Barnsley S71 4DN

Website: www.mapsdirect.co.ukEmail: [email protected]

Encapsulated maps Magnetic mapsLinen maps Pinboard maps

We specialise in school traversing walls,manufacturing and installation of climbing

walls, wall/belaypoint testing, bolt-onholds,stocks of holds kept, holds made

‘in-house’ in the UK.

76 Victoria Park Grove, Bramley,Leeds LS13 2RD

T: 0113 216 [email protected]

IINNSSUURREE IITT..

Cold, wet and dehydration can reduceperformance and impair safety. By fitting a‘TeaMate’ water boiler, crews can makethemselves a cup of tea, coffee or other hotbeverage to keep warm and hydrated,therefore maximising concentration andkeeping fatigue to a minimum.• Compact commercial grade throughout.• Self contained fully automatic.• 12v and 24v models available.• Makes up to 9 mugs per filling.

WHISPAIRE LTDemail [email protected] web www.whispaire.co.uk

T + 44 (0)1794 523999 F + 44 (0)1794 519151

Visit our new shop, shop onlineor telephone an order through

Emergency Collectables445 Fair Oak Road,

Fair Oak, Eastleigh, HantsSO50 7AJwww.

emergencycollectables.com sales@

emergencycollectables.com023 8060 0039

Gore-texrepair

patches areavailable

online from£5.95 + P&P

Black, RedNavy & Green

www.highpeakuk.net

Support m

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Conta

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tarkie

0870 2

40 4

024WWW.STORMOUTDOORS.CO.UK

E: [email protected] ON-LINE FOR CAMPING, WALKING, TRAVELLING AND MOUNTAINEERING EQUIPMENT AND CLOTHING

We offer a fast, friendly and reliable service for all your needs, feel free to call us for any advice or send us an email.

Brands: MSR, SILVA, SUUNTO, PETZL, MOUNTAIN EQUIPMENT, RAB,MEINDL, LOWE ALPINE, PRIMUS

and much, much more.

CHIPPING SODBURY, SOUTH GLOUCESTERSHIRE,NEAR BRISTOL TEL: 01454 315430

New Mountain EquipmentSpring/Summer 2007 range

now available

20 e su s i - rescue

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