Record year pushes mountain rescue teams to the limit

Rescue services face bad weather pressure

Travel Insurance News - 03/01/2011

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Recent bad weather and a rising trend towards ‘staycations’ have combined to make 2010 a record year for mountain rescues in the UK. As more and more Brits elect to stay at home for their holidays, rescue services in some of the most popular nature areas have been hard-pressed to keep up with demand.

The rescue forces, manned by unpaid volunteers, have been under huge strain to cope with the record number of missions last year. Some teams of rescuers have also been forced to review the manner in which they work.

In places like Snowdonia and the Lake District, emergency rescue incidents rose dramatically. Langdale/Ambleside mountain rescue team, which operates in the Lake District, had to be called out to 162 recues in 2010. That was roughly 30 more call outs than in 2009, which had already bested the previous record by 20 call outs.

Nick Owen, rescue team leader and the manager of a youth hostel, said the huge rise in call outs results from the increasing popularity of ‘staycations’, as well as the burgeoning supply of magazines and TV shows that drive more people to explore the outdoors.

Although he welcomes anything that brings more people to the area, he said that people get a false sense of security about quick rescues should they get into trouble.

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