Rescue on Snowdon - Snowdonia National Park Authority

Rescue in Snowdonia
Snowdon
Background
Snowdonia National Park contains the tallest mountain in Wales – Snowdon. The
mountain measures 1085m and there are six public rights of way to the summit.
There are other paths as well, the most famous leading over Crib Goch. The paths are
between 3.25 miles and 5.5 miles to the summit (remember that you have to walk
back down again) and rise between 713 metres and 1015m. About 375,000 people
walk the paths to the summit every year. Of these a small percentage - less than 1 %
ask for assistance to come down the mountain. Some of these are injured, some are
lost and some have mistimed their journey. Many of these make the headlines.
This pack is based on the 1% and the reasons why they need assistance to get down
the mountain. It contains a data file gathered by the Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team,
www.llanberismountainrescue.co.uk .
You can find more information about the team’s activities by following them on and
For further information regarding mountain safety and how to avoid injuries and
incidents, go to Snowdonia National Park’s website www.eryri-npa.gov.uk .
More information about the footpaths can be found there as well under ‘Visiting’ and
‘Walking’.
How to use the pack?
You will need to use our interactive map for Task 1. It would be useful for you to
go over your map reading skills as well – symbols, contour lines and scale. To load
the map visit www.eryri-npa.gov.uk /education/resources. You’ll find the ‘Rescue in
Snowdonia’ map there.
Having loaded the map, you can zoom in for greater detail using the bar on the top
left. Every icon shows the location of a mountain rescue incident. By clicking on the
icon further details will open up.
By choosing the ‘key’ icon on the right hand side you can choose layers to study –
walking / climbing / scrambling.
If you want to search for a particular location, type in SH and the grid reference into
the search box located bottom right.
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You will need the data table at the back of the pack for Task 2.
LAE T H
SNOWDONIA
NATIONAL PARK
Snowdon Data — what the fields mean
Date:
incident date.
Time ;
the exact time that the incident call was logged.
Grid Ref; the six figure grid reference for the incident.
Location; the name for that location; it can be seen on the map.
Weather; a description of the weather at the time wind / precipitation cloud cover / temperature.
Ground conditions; what type of path; difficult / easy / rocky / ridge.
the ground was underfoot; dry/wet/slippery/ icy/snow.
Cause; what caused the caller to call for assistance in the first place lost / late / agravating old injury / slipped.
CRAGFAST stuck to the rock like a limpet and cannot move.
Injury; which part of the body was injured if there was an injury. If
there was no injury, NONE will be written down.
Seriousness; how serious was the injury; fatal / serious / minor / none
Activity; what activity was the person doing at the time. Walking/
climbing (needs rope and harness)/ scrambling (need to use your hands but no rope required) .
Rescue detail;
how the person was brought down from the mountain.
Sex; M = male F = female.
Age;
their age at the time.
Equipment; the suitability of their equipment (rucksack, waterproofs) Good / Suitable / Poor.
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Where no details have been collected you will see ‘no record / no information’. When
‘irrelevant’ is seen under equipment, it means that they were with a group and that the
leader has the safety equipment required.
LAE T H
SNOWDONIA
NATIONAL PARK
Snowdon Data
Snowdon is the highest mountain in Wales at 1085m (height). As it is an impressive, iconic
mountain about 375,000 people walk to the summit, and around 120,000 people travel
to the summit by train. SNPA officers monitor the use of the footpaths so that they know
where maintenance work is needed in the future. Walkers are counted by pressure pads in
the ground or as they go through gates and stiles.
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This is the data for Snowdon for 2012. It will help you to answer the questions that follow.
LAE T H
SNOWDONIA
NATIONAL PARK
Snowdon Data
Tabl Users on Snowdon 2012 page 4 Rescue on Snowdon Miners PYG Rhyd Ddu Watkin Crib Goch 2441 5970 6247 292 215 1564 221 February 3497 3237 14255 212 314 1213 395 March 5124 6246 10375 803 677 1663 439 April 12732 9549 7874 1229 1392 4457 1250 May 14729 11296 3521 1625 1015 3906 1217 June 18444 12005 2035 1568 1350 5419 633 July 17737 12163 9301 2394 1503 3652 785 August 26612 17086 6240 3915 2289 4842 958 September 1747 10908 6467 4332 1270 4105 1140 October 2371 7557 9182 4106 911 3066 883 November 3051 3615 4046 1028 381 1486 246 December 4078 2527 1203 1024 491 781 66 Total 112560 102155 80745 22526 11805 36153 8233 PA R C C E
Rescue in Snowdonia - Snowdon
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Llanberis Snowdon Ranger LAE T H
SNOWDONIA
NATIONAL PARK
Task 1 - Map Reading
Look carefully at the location of incidents on Snowdon. You may need to zoom in on
your map for greater detail.
1. Choose .......... Most accidents occur under 500m / over 500m
2. Why did so many incidents happen at this height? Think of the following
Land form ; ridge / steep / flat / slight gradient ; rocky / rough/ wet /woodland
distance taken to get there; the incidents are over ....................km from the start of the path.
Put these together as a sentence to answer the question
Most calls for help occurred at a height of ……………m
because___________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
3. Search for grid reference SH61 54. Here the PYG Track and the Miners Path meet.
Around 200,000 people walk these paths every year. There’s a cluster of incidents in
this grid reference. Why?
Complete this writing frame using the terms above and your own words.
From the east of the grid to the west of the grid the path rises from ............metres
to ...............metres over a distance of .................km . This means that the land rises
steeply / gradually. This part of the path is .................km from the start of your journey.
If you had walked to the summit and were on your way down you would have walked
.........................km and risen …………………..metres.
Why were there so many callouts to this grid square?____________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
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__________________________________________________________________________
LAE T H
SNOWDONIA
NATIONAL PARK
Task 1 - Map Reading
4. What were most leisure users doing when they got into difficulties?
Walking / climbing / scrambling / running
5. Why do you think there were so many more callouts for people doing this activity?
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
6. Look at the incidents that are to do with ‘scrambling’.
Name the location __________________________________________________________
Describe the landform here __________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
Why do you think so many incidents occured here?
Because
________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
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__________________________________________________________________________
LAE T H
SNOWDONIA
NATIONAL PARK
Task 2;
Data Analysis - making graphs by hand and interpreting them.
REMEMBER a graph has to have labelled axis, a title and they look better if made
using a ruler.
Use the data table of incidents on Snowdon 2012 to do the tasks.
1. Line graph
Draw a graph to show the ‘number of walkers on Snowdon’ for every month of the year
• Which month is the busiest on Snowdon ? ____________________________________
• Which month is the quietest on Snowdon?____________________________________
• Can you explain this pattern? _______________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
2. Bar Graph
Draw a bar graph to show the ‘pattern of monthly incidents’ for 2012. Don’t colour it.
• Which month saw most incidents? __________________________________________
• Which month saw least incidents? _________________________________________
• In which season did most incidents occur? ___________________
Consider this and your first graph. Give a reason for the pattern. ___________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
3. Compound Bar chart
Use your monthly incidents graph
Split every monthly incident bar to show the number of males and females involved.
Colour this and add a key to your graph.
• In which months were more females involved in incidents than males?
_____________ and ______________
• Suggest why more males than females are involved in incidents.
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Because _________________________________________________________________
LAE T H
SNOWDONIA
NATIONAL PARK
3. Pie chart. a pie chart of the ages of those involved in incidents. Task 2: Draw Data
Analysis - making graphs by and hand age interpreting
group was most likely to be involved in an incident? _________________
• Which and
them
• Which age group was least likely to be involved in an incident? _________________
4. Pie chart.
Try to of
explain the p
____________________________________________ Draw a pie• chart
the ‘ages
ofattern those_involved
in incidents’.
• Which age_________________________________________________________________ group was most likely to be involved in an incident? _________________
• Which age group was least likely to be involved in an incident?__________________
12
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Injuries on Snowdon 2012
Fatal
Serious
Minor
None
Ja
n
Fe uar
br y
ua
ry
M
ar
ch
Ap
ril
M
ay
Ju
ne
Ju
Au ly
Se g
pt ust
em
b
O er
ct
N obe
ov
e r
D mb
ec e
em r
be
r
Number
• Try to explain the pattern __________________________________________________
4. Bar chart __________________________________________________________________________
Complete this graph to show the injuries sustained by month. 5. Bar chart
Complete this graph to show the injuries sustained each month.
Month
• Which month saw the greatest number of serious incidents? _________________
Which month saw the record
greatest f serious incidents? ____________ • What •was
the most
common
fornumber injuriesoduring
the
year? ______________
• Wthe
hat so
was the m
ost common record for injuries during year? _on
____________ Why were
many
incidents
involving
these?
Search
for anthe incident
the map
were the so many incidents involving these? Search for an incident on the map and
and giveWhy a reason._________________________________________________________
give a reason.__________________________________ 6. Optional graph
5. Optional graph • Choose a suitable graphing technique to show the data ’cause’ of accident.
• Choose a suitable graphing technique to show the data ’cause’ • Think of a series of questions about the graph that you can ask another member of
your class.
• Think of a series of questions about the graph that you can ask another member of y
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Task 3 - A ‘real’ rescue – research and organising a rescue
You’re a member of the Llanberis Mountain Rescue team. Research their work, the type
of incidents that they deal with and the type of equipment that they carry.
Task 3— A ‘real’ rescue – research and organising a rescue You have been called to an incident in grid reference SH 6054 - you can choose the
You’re a member of the Llanberis mountain rescue team. Research their work, the type of incident.
incidents that they deal with and the type of equipment that they carry For reasons
thein Snowdon
Mountain
Railway
isn’t trunning
today,
You hbeyond
ave been cyour
alled tcontrol,
o an incident grid reference SH 6054—you can choose he incident. Hafod Eryri,
the building at the summit is closed and the yellow helicopter can’t help
For reasons beyond your control, the Snowdon mountain railway isn’t running today, Hafod as it’s inEryri, the tLake
District.
he building at the summit is closed and the yellow helicopter cant help as it’s in the Lake District Your task
is to assist the person making the call.
Your task is to assist the person making the call. You need to get the team together, make sure that you have the right kit for the weather
You need to get the team together, make sure that you have the right kit for the weather in in your rucksack and the equipment needed to get the casualty off the mountain. You
your rucksack and the equipment needed to get the casualty off the mountain. You need to need to organise the walk in the safest means possible for your team and the walk out
organise the walk in by the safest means possible for your team and the walk out by the by the quickest
route for the person being rescued. Use the following headings to help
quickest route for the person being rescued. Use the following headings to help you you organise
the
organise the task.
task. Location: SH _________ Causes: ____________ Weather: _______________ Injury: _____________ ___________________________________
_____________ Path: _____________ Conditions underfoot:_______________________ Equipment in your rucksack: __________________________________________ Travel time to the site * :________________hours Travel time from site * :_______________ hours Total time out (including time to treat the casualty) :_______________ hours Number in your team : Further comments: *Use Naismiths rule - 1 hour to walk 5km (3 miles) adding 1 minute for every 10 metres uphill.
*Use Naismiths rule -­‐ 1 hour to walk 5km (3 miles) adding 1 minute for every 10 metres uphill. Following
the incident,
writewrite a report
forfor the
Daily
Western
outlining
Following the incident, a report the Daily PPost
ost // W
esetrn MMail
ail outlining the the
incidentincident and details
of theof rescue.
Use
your
imagination.
and details the rescue. Use your imagination. You should also provide some
mountain safety advice in the article.
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You should also provide some mountain safety advice in the article. LAE T H
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NATIONAL PARK
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Rescue in Snowdonia - Snowdon
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75 365945 Total Total 1 31 Month Fatal Serious Minor January 0 1 February 0 1 March 0 1 April 0 1 May 0 4 June 0 3 July 0 3 August 0 6 September 0 2 October 1 3 November 0 3 December 0 3 21 1 2 1 1 4 5 0 4 1 1 1 0 103 5 10 7 17 2 11 4 3 9 10 9 16 49 0 8 2 1 1 2 6 6 4 11 6 2 None 72 4 8 4 14 32 0 2 0 0 4 3 4 3 3 1 3 4 1 4 4 1 5 2 2 2 Cause 32 21-­‐40 10 12 26 0 2 0 3 41-­‐60 1 4 0 2 0 5 2 7 60+ 9 0 2 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 4 36 0 1 3 6 20 3 5 0 2 Good Adequate 1 1 4 4 4 0 0 2 1 1 7 0 5 0 4 2 2 0 3 1 0 3 0 0 1 2 3 0 Activity 15 Poor Equipment 31 0 4 1 7 0 0 0 1 6 1 1 10 No record 13 18 18 84 6 11 Weather Cragfast Other Walking Climbing Scrambling 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 9 2 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 2 2 0 1 0 1 2 6 1 2 0 3 2 4 0 4 0 3 2 7 1 1 5 1 5 16 0 0 4 0 2 7 0 0 0 7 0 17 0 0 4 0 2 10 0 0 0 2 0 3 0 2 Age Darkness 0 0 6 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 2 0 0 0 5 2 0 0 36 2 5 3 10 0-­‐20 Slip/fall/ trip Lost 1 2 2 1 6 4 2 3 1 5 2 3 31 1 2 3 3 Female 0 4 1 2 5 1 4 5 Sex 2 7 3 1 4 9 5 11 individuals Male Injuries 4 10103 December 6 13605 November 5 8 28828 27192 September October 2 7 3 3 9 10 7 11 16727 22727 24887 37232 36090 40820 46750 60984 Callouts Walkers Callouts Month January February March April May June July August