With Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) on their patch, a mountain ascended by over half a million people annually, it's no surprise that the Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team are the most active in the UK. The team recently announced an eye-opening benchmark, recording their 300th rescue of the year.

Over the last 15 years the annual number of callouts here has increased 300% - an unsustainable growth rate for a small charity run entirely by volunteers, say the team.

A hill walker injured in a fall on a wintry PYG Track prompted the landmark 300th response for 2023, followed two days later by the 301st call-out, to assist a pair of walkers who had become stuck in full winter conditions near the top of Snowdon.

The increase in workload is placing huge pressure on the team's volunteers. With incidents frequently occurring during busy holiday periods, team members are increasingly being asked to attend several callouts in a day, leading to fatigue and the risk of burn-out.

Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team Chair, Dr Richard Griffiths said: "We are hugely lucky that our volunteers are willing to go out at any time of day to rescue fellow walkers, climbers, runners and mountain bikers whose day has gone wrong.

"Our average member attends around 40 callouts per year. The time impact on them and their families' lives cannot be understated.

"This has been our busiest year yet, and as we get busier and busier there is a very real risk that the service becomes overloaded and we are not able to respond to those in need quickly."

As well as a rise in overall call-outs, the team have been seen an increase in traumatic, complex and dangerous incidents, impacting volunteers' wellbeing and personal lives.

"Our 56 operational team members have done over 8000 hours of rescue work so far in 2023" said Dr Griffiths.

"On top of this we have to attend regular team training, maintain equipment, raise the funds needed to run a charity and many other non-rescue roles too numerous to mention.

"As a group of volunteers we are nearing the limit of what we can do to support those in need in the mountains.

"In the coming years we will be looking to continue our work with other stakeholders to reduce the number of mountain incidents on Yr Wyddfa and to build our capacity to respond to this increasing demand. In the meantime, we continue to encourage walkers and climbers to prepare adequately so that they enjoy their time in the mountains by following the key messages from Adventure Smart UK."