Bad weather, coincidences turn mountain climbing trip into rescue mission

  • Published
  • By Karen Abeyasekere
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF MILDENHALL, England --  What started off as a personal challenge for three British employees from RAF Mildenhall, climbing three mountains in 24 hours to raise money for charities, ended up as a dramatic rescue mission when the trio helped save a man's life at the top of the final peak Oct. 3. 

Alan Coldwell, Chris Gould and Jerry Myles, Defence Fire Service firefighters with the 100th Civil Engineer Squadron Fire Department, and their guide, Dave Wainwright, 100th Force Support Squadron Outdoor Recreation, were on Mount Snowdon's peak in Wales when they came across a man covered in snow. 

The man was alone, unconscious, and suffering from hypothermia and frostbite. He had been on the mountain all night and was in a very bad way, according to Coldwell. 

The climbers were on the final leg of the Three Peaks Challenge - climbing Ben Nevis, Scotland, Scaffell Pike, England, and Mount Snowdon, Wales. Because of the snow and wind, the men had to forfeit their planned route, changing direction and finishing the trek to the top by following the Snowdon Railway instead. 

If it hadn't been for the change of route due to bad weather, they would never have stumbled on him. 

"We came up onto the ridge, but we were just getting blown all over the place. It was icy, and we could only just stay on our feet. Dave told us it was best if we went down the ridge a short way and worked our way back around the other side, so we would at least be sheltered from the wind." 

So on their guide's advice, they went back down the ridge of the mountain, and worked their way around, eventually following the train tracks. 

"The winds were gusting up to 80 miles per hour, and it was difficult to keep your footing; ordinarily once you come up onto the summit route, there's a summit path you take which leads you straight to the peak of Mount Snowdon," Mr. Wainwright, the qualified mountain guide, said. "If the weather hadn't been so bad, we would have gone straight to the summit then straight back down. 

It was when they were almost at the summit (about 50 meters below), that they spotted something in the doorway of a lodge/cafe currently being built at the top of Mount Snowdon. At first they thought it was just rubbish, or a pile of clothes someone had left there. 

"But as we got closer, we could see it was someone wearing a hat, and saw the guy sitting there, just huddled up in the corner, trying to keep warm," Mr. Coldwell said.
When they got to where the man was sitting, the firefighters realized he was unconscious. 

"It was fairly hard to bring him round at first; he took quite a bit of rousing to get anything out of him, and then it was just moans and groans. He was very stiff and cold, and we could tell straight away he was suffering from hypothermia - he'd obviously been out there a long time." 

According to news reports in the Welsh press, the man was from Manchester and was found alone at the top of the mountain. He wore no coat, and all he had on his feet were tennis shoes. 

The four men used their equipment and supplies to keep him alive, safe and warm. 

"Before we left RAF Mildenhall, Dave gave us a safety briefing and showed us all the survival equipment, which included a survival bag that you put people in, and an orange bivi bag, which is like an emergency shelter, which you put over everybody and the body heat warms you up," Firefighter Coldwell said. 

"He told us how to use it because the weather conditions were looking quite bad for our trip. When we saw the state the man was in, Dave went to phone the emergency services. Then we wrapped the guy in one of our bags, wrapped him up in all the spare clothes we had, and tried to get some gloves on his hands," he added. "(His hands) were so stiff we couldn't do that. So we ended up just wrapping hats over his hands, then put the bivi bag over all of us because it was blowing quite a blizzard at that point." 

They then put their rucksacks underneath the patient to keep him off the snow. 

"It was surreal, because it was just like a training scenario," Mr. Wainwright said, explaining that in order to keep his mountain qualifications current, he has to keep his wilderness emergency medical technician qualifications current as well. 

"The training scenario we've been given so many times, which you have to role play, is that you're walking along and you find a body lying in the snow - what do you do? It was just like a training day, and worked out really well - because two of the firemen were EMTs as well, it was really interchangeable. I went through my procedures, and they went through theirs, which left me free to coordinate with mountain rescue." 

Once Mr. Wainwright had contacted emergency services, he then spent his time going back and forth, dealing with the rescue team and getting instructions to tell the other men where they were going to be. He also kept in contact with Keats McLaughlin, 100th FSS Outdoor Recreation outdoor adventure program manager, who was the driver for the challenge. Mr. McLaughlin also made contact with the mountain rescue team during the rescue. 

"By then we were just trying to keep the guy awake; he kept going to sleep or dropping back into unconsciousness, and that's pretty dangerous when you've got hypothermia," said Firefighter Coldwell. "We were just talking to him and shouting at him, just to keep him awake - I think we were getting on his nerves a bit by then. But we gave him bits of chocolate and sips of water to sustain him." 

The men heard a noise and assumed it was the rescue helicopter - but it turned out to be the train, bringing distinguished visitors from the Welsh Assembly (the Welsh government) to show them the café where the man was found before it opened. 

The men explained the situation and the people on the train agreed to take the patient part of the way down the mountain. After speaking with the Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team (who had been paged by the North Wales Police), it was agreed they would meet at the half-way point. 

Because the mountain was shrouded in clouds above 600 meters (Mount Snowdon's summit is 1,085 meters above sea level), it wasn't possible to send the rescue helicopter, sent from 22 Squadron, RAF Valley in Wales, to where the casualty had been found, according to Ian Henderson, Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team volunteer, who was part of the rescue team that day. 

"If we hadn't had the train, we'd probably have had to wait about four hours for the mountain rescue team to walk up the hill to us," said Firefighter Coldwell. "So it really was luck that the train came up that day, and also that we were diverted from the ridge on our way to the peak." 

Between them they made an improvised stretcher from one of the orange bags, rolling up the edges to make handles, then carried the man to the train and loaded him carefully on, before getting themselves and the rest of their gear on the train, and heading back down to meet the rescue teams. 

On the train ride they again kept talking to the man to keep him awake for the 15-minute journey to the helicopter, which flew alongside them for a while, before lowering its winch to the train below. 

Being EMTs, Firefighters Coldwell and Gould had already been able to assess the patient before the helicopter arrived. Once on the ground, the winch man also asked the patient a few questions to make sure he was doing OK. The men attached him to the rope and pulled him up into the helicopter before flying him to hospital. 

"The casualty arrived at hospital with a core temperature of 31.2 degrees - which put him in the range of severe hypothermia and risk of cardiac complications - and mildly frostbitten feet," said Mr. Henderson. "Without the fortuitous intervention of the Mildenhall guys, who were well-equipped and dealt with him well, and the timely arrival of the train, the outcome would have been very different." 

The train took the firefighters and guide back to the foot of the mountain, where the mountain rescue team took them to their headquarters and interviewed them to find out what had happened. 

One of the passengers on the train was Doug Blair, Snowdon Mountain Railway senior engineering manager, and he said he was very impressed with how the team from RAF Mildenhall handled the rescue. 

"They were superb, and it was great for me to be able to leave them to look after the casualty while I sorted out the logistics, enabling the train to meet the 22 Squadron Sea King helicopter just below the cloud base," he said. "It's clear that the casualty may not have survived if they hadn't found him, or if, by coincidence, the train hadn't been visiting the summit on an inspection." 

As well as giving praise to their driver, Mr. McLaughlin, the firefighters were full of admiration for their mountain guide. 

"We just want to thank Dave for getting us all up and down the mountain safely," said Firefighter Coldwell, on behalf of himself and the other two firefighters. "Without him we would have got lost, or wouldn't have had the right stuff. The fact that he gave us a good briefing on all the safety equipment, and brought all the stuff with him, all helped on the day. 

Their mountain guide said he has spent most of his life doing outdoor adventure activities, and has years of experience. He climbed his first mountain with his dad, a doctor, when he was just 6 - coincidentally, that first mountain was Mount Snowdon. 

"I'd rather not have been in that (rescue) situation in the first place, but I'm proud of the fact that because Keats and I had made the effort to get ourselves trained and qualified, and made sure we had necessary survival equipment on hand, we could just use it," Mr. Wainwright said. "It wasn't a big panic, and it wasn't a big deal. It was just a case of, 'Get on with it. Use our kit, use our skills - done'." 

Editor's note: Firefighter Simon Dowding of RAF Wattisham (formerly at RAF Mildenhall for 12 years) was scheduled to join the three Mildenhall firefighters on the Three Peaks Challenge, but had to pull out at the last minute due to unforseen circumstances.