Spate of mountain rescues involving young men sparks concern

Mountain rescuers have said young men are "overestimating" their experience after receiving multiple call-outs to Eryri National Park.

Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team received seven call-outs to Crib Goch - a mountain ridge on Yr Wydffa, also known as Snowdon - in Gwynedd in November, with the casualties all being men under 24.

Jurgen Dissman, chairman of Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team, said it was a "busy month" of people getting into difficulty due to the area's terrain "being underestimated".

Nathan Mburu, 24, from London, became stuck on the route in May and said if it weren't for the rescue team, he and his friends could have died due to being "overconfident" and "under-prepared".

Nathan, a fitness influencer, and his friends planned a weekend to tackle Crib Goch - an advanced scrambling route - when the three of them were free.

While it wasn't his first climbing experience, with Nathan previously completing the three peaks challenge in Yorkshire, he admitted they didn't plan ahead.

"We didn't really look at the weather too much. It was more so 'we're free, let's do it'," he said.

The group left London early and, upon arrival, the friends noticed the weather beginning to change from a sunny day to windy and cloudy.

"One of my friends was like, 'should we be doing this?' And I said, 'we just drove from London to do this. We're here now, we're gonna do it'," he said.

He admitted the nerves started to set in but, as they arrived at the base, adrenaline kicked in.

They continued through the heavy rain and wind and had just reached the ridge when Nathan started to feel a pain in his legs.

"I was just trying to warm up my legs, trying to get moving and it just couldn't happen," he said.

It was then that Nathan and his friends realised they were stuck.

"We couldn't go down the way we came, otherwise we would have fallen off and then we couldn't go forward because I couldn't move," he said.

He said at that moment he felt hopeless and it was then he called emergency services for help.

Due to the weather conditions, Nathan and his friends waited nearly six hours before it was safe for the mountain rescue team to get to them.

Nathan started to feel the impact of hypothermia and began to lose consciousness on the ridge.

He recalled the relief he felt when the rescue team reached them.

"That feeling of seeing that torch in the distance was indescribable," he said.

The men were assessed and treated by the team before they were equipped and assisted down the mountain.

"We were all rejoicing because at a certain point, we thought we were going to die. My friends were telling me 'Nathan, we thought you were dead.'"

In November, 15 of the 22 callouts Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team received required full team deployment.

British Mountaineering Council says the grade one scramble of Crib Goch can be relatively straightforward for most, but it warns it can become difficult during winter conditions.

Mr Dissman said winter weather could turn a manageable day into something extremely dangerous very quickly.

He added that if the weather was too severe, the team had to wait until conditions improved, and the delay could be long.

"We are highly trained and experienced, but rescuer safety will always be a major part of our decision-making," he added.

A spokesperson for Brecon Mountain Rescue Team - which covers Wales' second largest national park, Bannau Brycheiniog - said it had also received call-outs where people had underestimated conditions.

Nathan added that, while he believes it's good for people to challenge themselves, it's important to also "be realistic and aware of your capabilities".

"You see videos of people attempting these things. It's easy to think that you can do that when you're in the comfort of your own home," he said.

"But once you're out there, there's no turning back, and it's not as easy as it looks like on the screen."