34/12 – Callout in the Llangollen area
The Team was contacted by North Wales Police at 19:51 on 20th September 2012 to assist two well equipped and well dressed walkers who became lost on Ruabon Mountain as night fell. Despite having a map and compass with them they were unable to find their way. They did the right thing in the circumstances and called the Police and stayed where they were. This is important to maintain phone signal.
15 team members assisted in the call out and located the two. We walked one of the lost walkers off the hill whilst the second was taken off by the North Wales Police Helicopter as they had suffered slight injuries and mild hypothermia.
The Team was stood down at 22:49.
An article about the callout from www.wrexham.com – http://www.wrexham.com/news/ruabon-mountain-walkers-rescued-12238.html
Postscript: the casualties were able to use a smartphone application to get their position in degrees Latitude/Longitude and relay that by phone to the team. This made finding them much easier. This article from the BBC shows some of the considerations around the use of map and compass and smartphone applications. It must be stressed that the walkers we assisted last night did have a map and compass and weren’t relying on a smartphone for navigation.
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