Easter walkers warned by rescuers after record rise in callouts

The walkers have been urged in northern Wales to stay safe when they walk this Easter weekend.

The rescue team of the Aberglaslyn mountain, which covers parts of Eryri, also known as Snowdonia and the Llyn Peninsula, said “calls have increased, no doubt” in recent years.

It occurs after an increase in the number of young people who need to be saved, according to research through an artillery survey.

Dion Jones, who has been with the team for about 30 years, urged those who headed to the hills this weekend to be prepared.

Jones, 56, used to receive around 10 calls a year when he began to voluntarily.

Now the figure has shot “at least 60 to 70 a year” as more visitors come to the area.

The team, based in PorthmMMag, Gwyndd has more than 30 volunteers and offers a search and rescue service in northwestern Wales.

He acknowledged that the accident can happen to anyone, but said there were people “who housed.”

“Many do not take the right team with them and do not verify that they know what they are doing beforehand,” he said.

Jones said that regular mountain security notices were published, but he worried that they did not reach everyone.

“We have to look where people come from and make sure that security messages are shown in those areas instead of simply locally,” he said.

He added that “the employer continues at vacation time” and “because more people come.”

These services depend completely on their volunteers, which increases the greatest calls were pressing the resources.

“We do much more than mountains,” Jones added.

Max Swinhoe, 36, has been with the team for two years.

They usually call her “a couple of times a week”, but said it was impossible to predict.

“I think many people think we are sitting here at the base, but we are not,” he said.

“We are normal people and leave everything to go out.”

Mrs. Swinhoe agreed that people were not always prepared for “Changabled” conditions.

“If you don’t know about that, it could be caught without the right team,” he said.

Mrs. Swinhoe said the key was to educate people “that anything can happen,” and added: “Even if it is a warm day, you can still succumb to hypothermia.”

Rescue increased by 24% between 2019 and 2024 in Wales and England, according to the data analyzed by Ordnance Survey and informed by The Guardian.

The ascent was more prominent among the age group of 18 to 24, where the bailouts almost doubled.

Mountain rescue teams said this was partly due to the beauty places that found fame in social media sites such as Tiktok and Instagram.

A viral viral adventurer in August last year to camp in a cliff at the top of an Eryri mountain.

Tourists were also urged to investigate and respect the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park after it became one of the most “Instagram” places in Wales.

The executive director of Mountain Rescue England and Wales, Mike Park, said that a “broader variety of society” was now enjoying the outdoors.

“They are following influencers and social networks to go to places because other people have done it,” he said that the problem was not “where they are going”, but the “trip to get there.”

He said: “Take an infinite pool as an example. I know how to swim, I know where this pool is, I have my swimming costume.

“But we are still thinking that this is the same as if they were local swimming baths.”

Park added that people did not always take the “dangers” when they were traveling to the location.

“It’s cold up there, now you have this great trip to return and that is when we see that accidents happen,” he added.

Jones said that “it starts early enough” to make sure there was enough daylight for the return section and consider the reluctant if the weather was unpredictable.

“Wear proper clothes, bring food, drink, a spare battery torch, a map, a compass, and also make sure how to wear the subject,” he said.

“Getting to the top is only halfway. You must go down again.

“That is the most important thing: to lower one piece again.”