What a weekend

[OhJ]

South Wales is again being hit by some very Moist and breezy weather at the moment.
As some of you might now Sharrie,Mike and myself are members of a mountain rescue team and over the last few months it has been very quiet and no call out until this week end.
Between April 1st and 31st of October hundreds of teenagers are let loose on their Duke of Edinbrugh award expeditions.
Yesterday we had to air lift 6 seventeen yearolds with Lmf out of the middle of the Black mountain above Brynamman, Swansea valley.
Today i was training the guys how to evacuate a casualty and stretcher out of a water fall, we then had a call to respond to Dan Y Ogof show caves. First Twenty teenagers lost and exhausted missing on the BLack mountain only to be followed by two more teams of four lost and soaking wet.
After these where recovered we found four seperate mispers with hypothermia and and all four have to be carried off the hill. The Helicopter has landed at Dan Y Ogof unable to fly in to the mountains. we now have three teams out carrying these guys off in proper sheit weather.

 

[Barftone]

Kids!

 

[MooN]

Or more to the point, the adults who have allowed them out insufficiently prepared. I did the d of e award thing years ago and on the "expedition" found myself woefully unprepared, only completing it due to the two team members from Scotland, basically carrying me round and not allowing to drop out.

 

[Whealie]

My daughter did bronze last year and the walk was easy and in sunshine. They still got lost.

But the kit issue is important. My daughter had Gore-tex head to toe, proper walking boots, light weight camping gear etc. The list of suggested kit is OK. But most kids did not have it. If the only walk you are ever going to do is this, then cash-strapped parents are not going to fork out for decent boots etc that will then sit there and gather dust.

And then you have the peer pressure. My daughter is used to being forced into sensible gear rather than fashionable gear, but still moaned. Other kids were simply not prepared to look as un-trendy as a well-kitted out walker.

And teachers - who are often not expert walkers themselves - cannot refuse a child whose family cannot afford to buy all the gear. the school bought rucksacks and stoves etc but cannot buy everything.

But the main thing is well done to Jay, Sharrie and Mike, plus their colleagues and all the volunteer rescuers around the country.

 

[Lutin]

But the main thing is well done to Jay, Sharrie and Mike, plus their colleagues and all the volunteer rescuers around the country.

That is the thing. Well done guys!

 

[Boris]

My daughter did bronze last year and the walk was easy and in sunshine. They still got lost.

But the kit issue is important. My daughter had Gore-tex head to toe, proper walking boots, light weight camping gear etc. The list of suggested kit is OK. But most kids did not have it. If the only walk you are ever going to do is this, then cash-strapped parents are not going to fork out for decent boots etc that will then sit there and gather dust.

And then you have the peer pressure. My daughter is used to being forced into sensible gear rather than fashionable gear, but still moaned. Other kids were simply not prepared to look as un-trendy as a well-kitted out walker.

And teachers - who are often not expert walkers themselves - cannot refuse a child whose family cannot afford to buy all the gear. the school bought rucksacks and stoves etc but cannot buy everything.

But the main thing is well done to Jay, Sharrie and Mike, plus their colleagues and all the volunteer rescuers around the country.

Agreed when Jennifer was younger she did the same and we spent a fortune on clothes and other stuff that would either never be used again or she was soon to grow out. OK They were only going up the Pentland hills near here but it can be a pretty hospitable place once the weather turns.

She did manage to borrow a good chunk of the gear (there was no way I was letting her and her mates lose or break my tent) but the personal items such as goretex kit and boots were pretty much down to us to supply.

 

[Traveller]

My daughter supervises DOE eeditions. She often describes how individuals develop as they go through the grades and expeditions. They first come very ill prepared and over burdened with stuff they think they need. By the final, and most challenging expedition the have learned what they need and how to work. The expeditions are not a walk in the park. Anyone who completes them has real evidence of determination and strenghth of character. Employers value this as evidence of the qualities of the individual. Unfortunatly, parents and teachers are now trying to push their kids through to get a tick in a box. This is causing un interested and un prepared individuals to have a go.
When my daughter did DOE it was for her personal satisfaction, not because it was a tick in a box to collect.
They have had mountain rescue out for one group. They were called by some walkers who decided the group needed help. They didnt have the courtesy to speak to the group who were being led off the mountain by my daughter at the time. If they had, they would have recognised all was under control. The first my daughter kew about it was when the MRTeam met them and recognised there was no intervention necessary.
My daughters work takes her into some wild and remote places in the UK and abroad (just back from surveying Icelandic glaciers and off to the heat of Brunei in a couple of months).
They have well prepared emergency procedures, based on practical experience and knowlege, however she is concerned about the underlying drive behind some of the current DOE candidates.

As a leader they follow and monitor at a discrete distance and only intervene as required. DOE is supposed to be a development challenge, and part of the learning curve is to recognise when to bail out. Not to blindly carry on.

 

[Paul-S]

Well done guys

 

[Sharribee]

We finally got home at 1am, with every thing in my rucksack absolutely soaked through, and believe me I have proper kit it was just the scale of the weather meant it was too much for most hill kits.

In total we have rescued and ensured the safety of 30 plus people this weekend. Some of which I was extremely concerned about because they were so cold.

In addition to the D of E groups, one of the search teams came across another group in distress with 2 reportedly unconscious individuals. They were in a very difficult location with the ground underfoot being steep, slippery and extremely uneven. We had to carry 2 stretchers per all of the medical kit required to the location, in addition to our own personal hill kits to ensure our safety.

We were out from 1pm yesterday until 5 with the first group, then needed to go back out to take the stretchers back up the hill and evacuate the 2 sick people. We finished at 1130 pm, got back to our base just after midnight then needed to.put our vehicles and kit back into operational condition.

I eventually got to be 130 this morning then got up ready to go to work by 8

Knackered now



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[Loggy]

Well done team....

Thanks for your service. Glad people can rely on your expertise and professionalism. Keep up the good work!!!

 

[spanglish]

Unsung and unpaid HERO's one and all, RESPECT

 

[Sharribee]

Some pictures of the conditions we worked in

My socks are still drying

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[Boris]

Like a summer day up here

Just kidding it looks pretty rough

 

[Lulu]

Well done all, as someone said, unsung heros. Hope you have dried out, warmed up and caught up with sleep

 

[Whealie]

Well done all, as someone said, unsung heros.

Sharrie, sharrie, sharreeeeeee, mike, mike and Jaaaaaay!

Unsung no more.

 

[Lulu]

Well done all, as someone said, unsung heros.

Sharrie, sharrie, sharreeeeeee, mike, mike and Jaaaaaay!

Unsung no more.

You call that singing?

 

[hotbulb]

My daughter's boyfriend is another team member, and gave us a brief outline of Sunday night's activities... that is, when he could keep his eyes open. He's another that didn't get much sleep before work on monday morning!
Well done, Western Beacons MR,and indeed all Mountaine Rescue teams

 

[Whealie]

Not being Welsh is not the only reason I'm banned from Welsh Male Voice choirs.

 

[stumpy]

I have done a few survivalist weekends with the army.
Some were in horrible weather, not as bad as recent events, I survived due to decent kit and training.
I have nothing but admiration for the Mountain Rescue Volunteers, they have to fit rescues in around their normal jobs. Well done to the teams.


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[Sharribee]

My daughter's boyfriend is another team member, and gave us a brief outline of Sunday night's activities... that is, when he could keep his eyes open. He's another that didn't get much sleep before work on monday morning!
Well done, Western Beacons MR,and indeed all Mountaine Rescue teams

Now who would that be

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