By Bill Heaney
There are few of us who at the first fall of snow don’t imagine ourselves trekking and climbing over West Highland and Loch Lomondside hills enjoying what must be a terrific adventure.
But, like so many of the things we aspire to in life, they are far from easy to embark upon.
Matt Smith, Police Scotland’s national lead for mountain rescue, said today that the extremes of weather and lack of daylight hampers rescue efforts and “make things really difficult”.
He added: “What the teams come up against is exactly what walkers or people that are venturing out will come up against.
“Mountain rescue teams have had to deploy in very challenging conditions, for long periods of time, to help people that have become injured or lost, or needed help.
“They face some really long, dark, cold nights to get these people off the hills”.
In 2022, there were 636 incidents and 843 call-outs on Scotland’s mountains, according to Scottish Mountain Rescue.
In total, 330 of these involved mountaineering and 306 were non-mountaineering incidents.
An incident is defined as a single event that required a rescue team. This could involve several call-outs of a team during a prolonged search.
“The rescue teams in Scotland are incredible, the level of dedication and professionalism, it’s just second to none,” said Mr Smith.
“They are there to help people, but it doesn’t mean that it’s easy, and it doesn’t mean that necessarily it’s enjoyable to go out into the wilds and extremes.
“Lots more people will be venturing because we’ve seen a huge increase across the summer, so they will be tempted to do so in winter.
“But they need to understand the consequences are far greater.”
