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Bad steps: Britain's accident blackspots

Where are you statistically most likely to have an accident in British hills? Sarah Stirling and Francesca Donovan talk to Mountain Rescue teams in Scotland, Wales and the Lake District to find out which accident ‘black spots’ they repeatedly return to – and why they aren’t always the most obvious places

WALES

Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) is one of the world’s busiest mountains, and Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team (MRT) takes up the task– albeit completely voluntarily– of watching over those who seek its summit. They typically receive over 200 callouts each year.

Unsurprisingly, one of the key black spots on the Snowdon massif is the knifeedge ridge of Crib Goch. Llanberis MRT spokesman Miles Hill said: “Most call-outs to Crib Goch are to people who have underestimated it and become ‘cragfast’ – too scared to continue.

At the other end of the scale, falls usually result in deaths. We respond to around 12 cragfast incidents a year on Crib Goch, and eight fatalities a year on Snowdon generally; a couple of those are usually falls from Crib Goch.”

The trickiest sections of the Grade 1 scramble are a particularly narrow section where the ridge pinches to a foot or so wide with plunging drops either side, and the ‘rock step’. “Some people try to escape by wandering off the ridge,” added Miles. “This is a bad idea because the terrain below the ridge is loose and steep.”

Just beyond the lake of Glaslyn, the Pyg and Miners’ Tracks meet and the path suddenly kicks up into zig-zags. If you’re not being careful with your feet, this is where it can go wrong.

“There are a lot of jagged rocks on Snowdon, which means that slips can result in lower leg injuries, head injuries and lacerations,” says Miles.

“There have also been a few fatalities here when downhill momentum has carried people over a series of small cliffs.”

“Humans en masse are reasonably predictable animals,” adds Rob Shepherd, Mountain Rescue England and Wales’ Statistics Officer.

“It’s important to point out that some of these black spots aren’t necessarily risky places; the intersection of the Pyg and Miners’ Tracks, for example, is a temporal black spot – it’s the kind of place people reach at 4pm when they have already been to the summit and they are getting tired whilst walking down.”

The Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Organisation (OVMRO) received over 170 calls last year, and that number is on track to be repeated in 2023. Chris Lloyd, Chairman of OVMRO, told The Great Outdo