‘Exponential’ rise in mountain rescues threatens to overwhelm services as social media fuels risk

Hundreds of people need to be rescued from Mount Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa) every year; this is more than any other mountain in the UK, but rescuers have warned that the number of calls has risen to unsustainable levels and is partly driven by social media.

Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team, the busiest team in the country, has seen an increasing number of unprepared young men routinely rescued.

In October the team had to carry out 33 rescues, including 18 full team deployments, and in November there were 22 incidents with 15 full team deployments to rescue people.

With the arrival of winter, many of Snowdonia’s iconic routes to the top of Mount Snowdon, such as the Llanberis Way and the spectacular tooth-like Crib Goch (Red Ridge), become increasingly dangerous due to snow and ice and the days becoming much shorter. Meanwhile, their interest is growing as people upload footage of their climbs to social media.

Searches for Crib Goch, Snowdonia and Llanberis Way return hundreds of videos on TikTok and Instagram; many of these represent dangerous climbs along the jagged ridge of Crib Goch, with sheer cliffs on either side.

Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team said a third of calls were to help people in difficulty at Crib Goch, and all of them were men under 24.

They warned that the route was a Grade 1 challenge that “becomes much more serious in winter conditions”.

The team warned that tackling the ridge requires experience, proper equipment, good weather judgment and a realistic understanding of your own abilities.

Jurgen Dissmann, Head of Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team, said: “We have received a number of calls throughout November for people experiencing serious difficulties in Crib Goch and now another call at the beginning of December; this is often due to underestimating the terrain or overestimating the experience. Things become much more serious at this time of year. Winter weather, high winds, storms and low visibility can very quickly turn a manageable day into something extremely dangerous.

“It is important to understand that there will be times when we will not be able to reach you. If the weather is very severe, we may have to wait until conditions improve and this delay can be lengthy. We are highly trained and experienced, but the safety of the rescuer will always be an important part of our decision-making process.”

He added: “Please ensure your experience, skills, fitness and equipment are suitable for the route and conditions, especially in winter.”

TikToker, a London fitness instructor named Nathan Buru, saw a huge spike in views last month after he uploaded a video showing himself facing adversity and being rescued from Crib Goch, but he also used the video to warn others not to do what he and his friends did and underestimate the weather and the size of the mountain.

In the video, he explains how he “got into a very difficult situation and almost died.”

“The clouds were swallowing the mountains, but we thought that was normal.”

“As we rose higher, the air became denser and more extreme.”

By the time they reached the top, Mr. Buru had severe cramps. “My leg stopped working,” he said in the video, unable to move due to high winds and heavy rain.

After calling 999 it took the rescue team over 4 hours to find and reach them, by which time it had become night.

“When the mountain rescue team arrived, we could not have asked for more professionalism at that moment,” Mr. Buru added. “If they hadn’t come that night, I would have been dead.”

In a YouTube video published last month highlighting the challenges mountain rescue teams face as visitor numbers rise, Mr Dissmann said the number of deaths in Snowdonia was also rising.

“We used to have about 4-6 deaths a year, but this year we’ve already surpassed that. We’ve had three deaths in the last few months alone.”

If the increase in disclosures continues to escalate, Mr. Dissmann said, “we won’t really be able to deal with it.”

“The increase is now exponential. There’s a lot of work and it’s all serious; people are falling off the top or collapsing. It gets really hard to manage all that coordination, and at some point if things continue like this, we won’t be able to respond. We’ll be able to reach people, but if you’re a little bit tired or your ankle is a little bit hurt rather than falling off the top, it might take us 5 hours instead of two hours to get to you.”