Hugh McLindon - Glen of Imaal mountain rescue team
I’VE BEEN on the team since 1997. It’s a full-time voluntary position but I have a day job too, as an education guide in the Wicklow Mountains National Park in Glendalough. It’s a magical place to work.
I live in Glenmalure, one valley over. I love mountains. I climbed Mount Leinster (the highest of the Blackstairs Mountains) when I was eight and that was it. I’ve loved mountains ever since.
We have a rescue team of about 35 volunteers and, though they would all be experienced and competent on the mountains, what we value more from them than any skill is commitment to the team.
We run one night’s training a week and one event at weekends, though if there is a rescue incident, it obviously counts as that week’s training.
Last night we were practising putting snow chains on vehicles. We have five new members who are learning about all the gear for the first time. For the rest of us, it’s about keeping our skills fresh so we don’t lose time when we are needed.
The average length of time people stay on the rescue team is eight years. Although some are in their twenties, the average age is mid-thirties. That said, the fittest of all of us, and the first up any mountain if there’s an incident, turned 60 last year and is fit as a flea.
Our typical call-out comes on a Sunday evening, just as the light is fading. Somebody will have twisted or fractured something in Glendalough or Lugnaquilla.
Thankfully we get very few silly calls. We have had people ask to be air-lifted off hills because they are in a hurry to get somewhere, but they get short shrift.
The hard part is when you have to deal with someone having died. The good part is knowing you actually save lives.
As a mountaineer, part of me used to think that when people had accidents it was most likely their own fault but then, in 2003, I was rescued myself from a fall in the French Alps, so I’m a lot humbler now.
Part of doing this work is my way of paying my dues for that incident.
The number of call-outs we get is at a record high at the moment. I think, because of the recession, people have more time to get out and enjoy the mountains, which is great.
If you are going though, wear suitable footwear. They are your only point of contact with the ground. A relatively small thing like a twisted ankle, kilometres from the road, with a cold night coming down, could put you in serious trouble.
And bring a torch too. That way you can guide yourself down if you have to.
* In conversation with
SANDRA O'CONNELL