What is the Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team?
LMRT was set up in the late 1960s by local climbers to help fellow climbers in difficulties on the mountains of Lochaber and especially on Ben Nevis. It was and still is today entirely made up of unpaid volunteers, with the current membership standing at approximately forty men and women of various ages from early twenties to early sixties.
What does LMRT do?
At the request of the local police, LMRT attend incidents that are remote from the road side where the normal emergency services are unable to operate. These incidents vary from rescuing a climber stuck on the sheer North Face of Ben Nevis to a canoeist stuck in an inaccessible gorge.
Who do we help?
LMRT does not only help climbers and hill walkers, although this is the main group who are assisted. We attend incidents involving back country skiers, cyclists and canoeists who are in a remote area or in an inaccessible location that requires rope-work to extricate them.
We are also asked to help co-ordinate and assist in the search for missing persons by the police, whether they have gone missing from their home or while undertaking various other leisure activities such as angling.
What area does LMRT cover?
In general we cover the area of Lochaber district which takes in the small isles of the Inner Hebrides such as Rum, Muck and Canna out to the West with Knoydart, the only real wilderness area in Britain, forming our North West boundary.
From Knoydart our boundary goes east as far as the National Trust land of Creag Meagaidh midway between Fort William and Aviemore. To the South of Creag Meagaidh we take in much of Rannoch Moor, including all of Corrour estate and up to the western flanks of Ben Alder.
The Southern Border of our area is mainly delineated by the main ridge line of the Mamore hills with Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in Britain, almost in the centre of our area.
What incidents do we turn out to?
The number of incidents has been increasing year on year to the current level of between 80 and 100 rescues per year. Some of the larger searches, in areas such as Knoydart, may take many days at a time; with up to 100 personnel being involved including members of other teams drafted in to help. This high number of incidents unfortunately will only be maintained and possibly increased with the advertising of the area as the Outdoor Capital of the UK.
In winter we deal with incidents such as those that are the result of poor navigation due to varying factors such as shorter days, poor weather conditions and tiredness due to conditions under foot. The winter also sees more of the technical rescues on the North Face of Ben Nevis involving long lowers with a 600 metre rope and long nights spent out on the summit.
In the summer months we go to the assistance of people who want to scale Britain’s highest mountain via the popular mountain track, which every year is used by between seventy thousand and a hundred thousand people. These people are often not regular climbers or hill walkers, but have all the usual medical problems that would be expected in the population: asthma, heart problems, diabetes or other chronic conditions. These conditions or just a lack of fitness or mountain skills result in assistance being required.
