Llanberis mountain rescuers face burnout after busiest year

A mountain rescue team has said it is facing "huge pressure" and risking "burnout" after exceeding 300 responses this year.

Llanberis Mountain Rescue assists those in need on Yr Wyddfa, also known as Snowdon, and surrounding mountains in Eryri, or Snowdonia, in Gwynedd.

Call-outs have soared, with each volunteer responding to several incidents a day, it added.

The team responded to about 100 callouts in 2008.

The team attended its 300th call on 2 December when it rescued a hill walker injured in a fall on Yr Wyddfa.

"The team were scrambled to Snowdon's Pyg track in wintry conditions to assist with a walker with a head injury before they safely evacuated to hospital (Ysbyty Gwynedd)," it said in a Facebook post.

"This was shortly followed by their 301st call-out two days later to assist a pair of walkers who had become stuck in full winter conditions near the top of Snowdon."

But the milestone is not something the team is celebrating, as it is concerned about public safety and the impact of so many incidents on volunteers, especially during busy holiday periods.

Visits to Wales' mountains increased significantly during the pandemic, and Yr Wyddfa now gets more than 500,000 visitors a year.

Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team Chairman Dr Richard Griffiths said: "We are hugely lucky that our volunteers are willing to go out at any time of day to rescue fellow walkers, climbers, runners and mountain bikers whose day has gone wrong.

"Our average member attends around 40 callouts per year. The time impact on them and their families' lives cannot be understated.

"This has been our busiest year yet, and as we get busier and busier there is a very real risk that the service becomes overloaded and we are not able to respond to those in need quickly."

He added 56 operational team members had done more than 8,000 hours of rescue work so far in 2023.

"As a group of volunteers we are nearing the limit of what we can do to support those in need in the mountains," said Dr Griffiths.