Lochaber Mountain Rescue – Inside one of Scotland’s busiest teams
Lochaber Mountain Rescue – Inside one of Scotland’s busiest teams
Based at the foot of Scotland’s highest mountain, Lochaber Mountain Rescue is one of Scotland’s busiest teams. Covering vast and challenging terrain – from the North Face of Ben Nevis to the remote Knoydart Peninsula – these volunteers face demanding rescues in all conditions, responding to a record-breaking number of callouts each year.
Here, the team write about their challenges, triumphs, and the vital role they play in keeping people safe in Scotland’s highest mountains.
The team write;
Based in Fort William, at the foot of Ben Nevis, Lochaber Mountain Rescue is an extremely active team. Born in the late 1960s, it started as a group of committed local climbers getting out to help fellow climbers in need. The Lochaber team today has 39 full members and 12 aspirants. We provide rescue services on behalf of Police Scotland all year round.
Ben Nevis sees hundreds of thousands of visitors each year, with another 60,000 taking the precipitous path up to Steall Falls. A large proportion of our call outs are on the busy mountain track and in Glen Nevis. We are also faced with regular large scale technical rescues on the north face. Although often assisted by the helicopter crews, we rack up serious mileage and height gain with heavy packs, in all weathers and seasons. Outside of Ben Nevis, our patch is large. We travel from Creag Meagaidh and Corrour in the east, up to the Loch Quoich munros and across to Fort Augustus in the north, remote Knoydart in the west and further out to the small isles of Rum, Eigg and Muck. Our southern boundary is on the Mamores, where we have a close friendship with the Glencoe team and we regularly assist each other during large or challenging calls.
Given the variety and large number of our callouts, along with the serious nature of our terrain, it is vital that we have a committed team with plenty of availability. We require a high level of competence and ability to problem solve; to react to the ever changing nature of call outs. We must trust in one another.
We are trained to handle serious medical trauma, conduct multi day searches across complex terrain and rig rope rescues. Winter adds a whole extra challenge: the cold, the darkness and the often more serious nature of the rescues. We are lucky enough to have a number of doctors, rope access technicians and highly competent mountaineers as part of the team.
Visitors to our area have doubled in the last twenty years and that number is continuing to grow. The Lochaber team are seeing a rise in call outs per year, and as of November 2024 we are up to 157 for this year. Last year was record breaking for us and this year is set to break that again. As a team that is entirely voluntary, responding to calls and attending training is a huge demand on time. To take the lead in a team like this requires a very understanding family, resilience and a remarkable ability to survive on little sleep and still be nice to people. There were days this summer with multiple call outs.
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The team has worked hard to develop a substantial base in Fort William. We have dedicated spaces for all equipment and for the team to store their own kit ready to go, a stocked kitchen to keep us full of beans, a small gym to help us develop the stretcher carrying muscles, and a highly equipped control room. We also have a fleet of vehicles including a quad bike and a tracked ATV. We recently expanded the base to house our vehicles properly but we are always looking to develop the facilities to improve call out response time and our level of care for casualties.
Outside of call outs, we provide support for race events and Highland Games. Our presence at these events helps to maintain the high profile and standing of the team within the community and for visitors. It allows us to share our stories, services and to raise the much needed funds that keep us going. Without our generous donors we wouldn’t function, so a heartfelt thanks to all that help out in this vital way. You keep us warm and dry and most importantly, out in the hills to help those who need it.
~ Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team
Website: www.lochabermrt.co.uk
Instagram: www.instagram.com/lochabermrt
Facebook: www.facebook.com/lochabermrt