People who rock
A lifetime of Mountain Rescue service with Harold Burrows
MBE, has spent over half a century in Mountain Rescue as a trained paramedic. He reflects on a lifetime in the mountains of Wales as he steps down as chairman of the Search & Rescue Dog Association of Wales…
I first became involved with Mountain Rescue in 1966. We would help the team in Snowdonia and on one rescue we were led up the mountain by a chap with a tilly lamp.
The search and rescue dogs amaze me with their ability. They just love the game of finding people. Fletcher is the search dog that I have at the moment. I am training him to only take me to the person that I have given him a scent of from a pillow case, scarf, hat, glove or T-shirt. He will ignore all others and find people wherever they may be.
A call-out involving some Scouts was one of my most memorable rescues. One had fallen ill, and they needed to be brought off the range around Moel Famau in south Wales.
It had been raining for most of the day and I was tasked to clear the ridge to the summit of Moel Famau with my first search dog, Kim. I gave Kim the command ‘away find’ and off she went, disappearing into the mist and rain. My concerns were some cliffs to my right and we had to keep a close eye on the route. After 20 minutes Kim suddenly appeared and gave one bark and ran off back into the mist on my left. Kim’s normal indication that she had found someone was to bark and bark at me, jumping up and down until I said “Show me”. Now just one bark and she was off.
We began to run towards where Kim had disappeared. Then out of the mist appeared the shape of a tent. I stopped running to catch my breath and radio search control. With my headtorch on, I opened the zips on the door of the tent, and there looking back at me were the three Scouts huddled up in their sleeping bags – a whole lot dryer than me, I might say.
I have seen the worst and the very best in people, but to be able to help someone and bring that person back to their loved ones is a great feeling. All the people who venture to the mountains will tell you a tale about the one day they got away with it. I think the key to staying safe is knowing your skill level and when doing something new or difficult, always have a safe route to walk back if things don’t go to plan.
The sheer number of people who climb Snowdon means people often need rescuing for medical evacuation, as well as trauma. We have six Mountain Rescue teams and one Cave Rescue in north Wales, but the honeypot areas are Llanberis and the Ogwen Valley.
Most of the time people don’t go missing on sunny days or during daylight hours, so the call-outs come just as dinner is going on the table. Many years ago, I tallied up what it was costing me to be involved with Mountain Rescue and as a Search Dog Handler. When it came to £5k I stopped counting and didn’t tell the wife! I have been lucky that my family have put up with me going off on search and rescues over the years, they have even pretended to be bodies to find when we are training my search dogs. My years in the mountains have taught me to appreciate solitude. I can be with my dog away from the noise of the towns and get the feeling that I’m the only person in the world. Sitting in the heather with a dog by my side and a cup of coffee in my hand, what more could I ask for? I can tell Fletcher all my problems and he gives me that knowing look that tells me to buck up and get on with it.
I had a night search in the middle of a Welsh winter once, looking at the night sky with no moon. I could see up to the Lake District, over to Ireland, and stopping to take it all in, for a moment, I forgot I was searching for three missing climbers.