Welsh 3000's 2005

23rd April 2005

Author: Andrew Nelms

Attendance: Sean Wheeler, Catherine Jones, Iain Cartwright, Mark Eccles, James Minto, Jon Lavender, Chris Waring, Dave Bracewell, Mike Devereux, Dave Mason	Pete Tubby, Alex Murphy, Jake Thompson, Chris Owen, Mathew Glaves, Stuart Gilfillan, Sergay Borovik, Conan Harrod, Ian Simpson and Andrew Fallas.

Support team: Andrew Nelms and Nick Blaney.

Summary
The group stayed in Clwt-y-bel in Deiniolen owned by the Shrewsbury Mountaineering Club. Departure from the hut was by 03.35 and arrival at Pen-y-pass was by 04.05 All participants had left the car park by 04.10 not all were in obvious groups. The support team then drove to the car park at the head of Llyn Ogwen and left one vehicle in a good space (next to a bit of grass and a wall for cooking) as the car park would be full later. A phone call was received at 05.15 saying that Catherine was missing from the group and a text message was received soon after saying that she was feeling ill but safe and was descending the tourist path.

Arrival at Nant Peris to set up checkpoint one was by 6.50. The first people came down to the checkpoint at 07.00 thus food was not quite available. Bacon was quickly underway but meant that the early groups were not as well fed as the later groups. The last group left Nant Peris by 09.00. Catherine arrived at Nant Peris at 09.00 and joined the support team. At 09.30 Alex returned to Nant Peris and joined the support team.

Arrival at Ogwen to set up Checkpoint two was by 11.00. By 11.40 Mark Eccles arrived via Devil’s Kitchen. The first group to complete stage 2 arrived at 12.00 (Conan, Pete and Ian) and left by 12.30 for the final stage. Contact is made from Sergey who has returned to Nant Peris. A vehicle was dispatched to pick him up and bring him to checkpoint 2. Mike arrived and left by 13.30. The next to arrive (Jake and Chris O) left by 14.15, followed by Stuart and Andy F gone by 14.30 with Dave M hot on their heels. The rest of the group arrived by 16.15 apart from Iain whom nobody has seen or heard from for some time. James and Sean left for the final stage at 16.45. As no contact could be made with Iain concern for his safety was expressed. A vehicle then left for Nant Peris to see if he had returned to checkpoint 1. On the way, contact was made and so the vehicle returned to checkpoint 2. Iain arrived at checkpoint 2 at 17.00

All returned to Hut apart from one vehicle which was dispatched to the pub in Abergwyngregyn to await the arrival of the first group. Conan, Pete and Ian finished at 18.15 Dave finished at 19.30 Jake and Chris O finished at 20.15 Dave M, Stuart and Andy F finished at 21.00

A call was received at 23.00 from James, reception was patchy but the pickup point was changed. A further call was received at 00.00 from James. Sean had injured his knee and they were descending towards Bethesda. Their current position indicated that they had moved less than a kilometre in nearly an hour and a half. Both were warm and they still had plenty of food reserves although they were tired having been walking for some 20 hours. At their current speed they would not arrive at the nearest road for another 6 hours. Therefore the Mountain Rescue were called. They were met by the Support team at Ysbyty Gwynedd (Bangor Hospital) at 04.00. Sean luckily only suffered a twisted knee and was discharged at 06.30 Arrival back at the hut was at 07.00 24th April.

Recommendations / Lessons learnt
People should leave Pen-y-pass in small groups. Although the groups are likely to change during the first section depending on differing paces, at least it will ensure that nobody gets left on their own as the other members of their initial groups will look out for them until they join another group.

People walking on their own. This poses a difficult dilemma that should be discussed by the committee before attempting the event again. In general, people walking on their own is not a good idea for safety reasons. However, when an experienced hiker wants to continue or go off on their own and they know how to look after themselves on the mountain then it is difficult to stop them. Several times people were on their own during the event mostly without concern, although concern was expressed a couple of times. Where do you draw the line about who can go off on their own and who can’t? Also should there be a minimum group size, if so what?

The location of mountain refuge huts should be identified and listed and given to all participants before the event as on the new maps the huts are foolishly and very short-sightedly not marked to discourage their use. This information may have prevented a helicopter call out.

Leave a car at checkpoint 2 after dropping off and Pen-y-Pass to ensure that a good space is obtained for checkpoint 2 as the carpark fills up very quickly.

Arrival of the support team should be at 06.30 latest and food should be ready before 07.00

The route card should be checked and corrected for mistakes.

All members attempting the welsh 3000 should be familiar with the Carnedds and running a day hike here shortly beforehand would be advantageous.

Many of these points should be contained within a comprehensive club safety policy and risk assessment such as was had by both the UHMC and MUHC. This would help with the planning and organisation of other events and be prudent in today’s increasingly blame culture.