Paying for the privilege

October 2004

by Mario Di Maio

team leader, Aberdeen Mountain Rescue

Aberdeen Mountain Rescue Team came into being in 1962, initially drawing most of its members from the very active Aberdeen Venture Club. Bill Marshall, the first team leader, was responsible for bringing together a group of like-minded individuals who, through their love of the hills, saw the need to develop some sort of search and rescue capability to cover the hills of Deeside and Donside.

At this time across Scotland there was very little in the way of formal rescue provision, and callouts were largely undertaken by gamekeepers and ghillies who were often pressed into service by the local bobby. The huge geographical area covered by the Eastern Cairngorms and the lower hills of Deeside and Donside was such that organising search and rescue operations posed particular logistical difficulties. It has to be said that there was at this time a tradition of ‘self rescue’ within the climbing and walking community, and as a result the number of callouts was quite small. However, as the number of people going to the hills steadily increased, so did the number of callouts, and it was not always possible for walkers and climbers to extricate themselves from difficulties.

There had been various attempts to develop an organised mountain rescue service covering the main climbing areas in the Eastern Cairngorms. Early attempts at this had involved members of the Cairngorm Club, who through the Forties and Fifties had provided basic mountain rescue cover. Indeed it was the Cairngorm Club that established and stocked the original first aid post in the corrie of Lochnagar.

The creation of the Aberdeen Mountain Rescue Team acknowledged that a more formal system was needed to deal with the growing number of search and rescue incidents. Early on in the team’s development the Order of St John in Aberdeen gave garaging for a team vehicle behind St John’s Hospital in Albyn Lane, and some financial assistance. Without their support it is unlikely that the team would have survived to develop into the organisation it is today.

Through connections which some of the early members had with both the Balmoral and Mar Lodge Estates the team secured access to two buildings, which eventually developed into forward bases for training and call-outs. These buildings, one at Derry and the other at the Spittal of Muick, have been used by the team ever since, and have been renovated and refurbished. Over the years these buildings have played an important part in the life of the team and have been the focal point for many dramatic call-outs.

From very early on, training was based on ‘weekends away’. This tradition has continued for over 40 years and the team still spends every third weekend from Friday evening to Sunday evening in upper Deeside at either Derry or the Spittal of Muick. In the early days, members came together on Thursday evenings to bundle newspapers. These were collected and donated from various sources, bundled up and sold on for recycling. This was a significant source of revenue in those days and although we no longer bundle newspapers, we do still meet every Thursday evening. During the summer months these evening sessions are spent at the coastal cliffs around Aberdeen, climbing and practising rescue techniques, while in the winter we teach practical first aid and casualty handling.

Initially a large number of members worked in the paper industry, which in the Sixties and Seventies was a major employer in the Aberdeen area. Gradually over the years, and in part as a result of the decline of the paper industry, the employment profile of the team has changed. It has gone through phases of having large numbers of teachers, joiners, solicitors and students in its ranks; the present membership is diverse, but a significant number are in oil-related industries. For the most part the team continues to draw its members from the city of Aberdeen, although a significant number now live in lower Deeside. We all share a love of the hills and a strong sense of commitment to mountaineering and mountain rescue.

As the team developed through the Seventies and into the Eighties the number of members gradually increased, and a variety of vehicles have carried the distinctive Order of St John badge and Aberdeen Mountain Rescue Team logo. A forward-control Landrover and even a white 4.5 litre, left-hand-drive American Jeep have been used by the team. The Jeep was affectionately known as the ‘ice cream van’ and made an interesting spectacle as it lumbered its way up the Derry road. Almost all of the team vehicles – at present, three long-wheelbase Landrovers with customized trailers – have been funded in whole or in part by the Order of St John. Given that the team has always been based in the Aberdeen area, some 60 miles from the main tops of the Cairngorms, reliable transport is a very important element in operational effectiveness.

In the mid-Nineties the garaging which the team had used became unavailable. The Order of St John instead generously provided a custom-built base with garaging for the vehicles and training facilities, including an indoor rock wall, at Elrick, some six miles to the west of the city. For the first time in its history the team had somewhere to dry and store equipment properly and operational effectiveness was greatly improved.

The present team membership is 30, including several with specialist medical training. Some people have been involved for over 20 years and embodied in the team is a wealth of mountaineering and mountain rescue expertise.

Membership is open to anyone over the age of 18, providing they can demonstrate a sufficiently high level of fitness and mountaineering competence. Membership is on a volunteer basis with a potential ‘on call’ commitment of 365 days a year – team members have at various times spent Hogmanay, New Years Day and Christmas Day taking part in call outs!

This, combined with a fairly heavy training commitment, does create difficulties when it comes to attracting recruits. All potential recruits serve a two-year probation during which they are assessed for mountaineering competence and the acquisition of specific mountain rescue skills. At the end of two years, or before if their progress merits it, new members have their name added to the callout list and become fully fledged members of the team.

For the most part the team operates in the area of the Eastern Cairngorms and the lower hills of Deeside and Donside. The majority of callouts are centred in the Braemar and Ballater areas, with Lochnagar and the Central Cairngorms being the most commonly visited locations.

The Aberdeen Mountain Rescue Team forms part of Grampian Police’s general emergency and disaster response and is frequently used for low-level searches in difficult terrain, such as dense forest and sea cliffs. The team’s mountaineering skills were called on by the police to retrieve a body from Rubislaw Quarry in Aberdeen. Over the years we have taken part in many callouts, often in darkness and frequently in appalling weather – hence the need for our rigorous training. The range of skills required by members is staggering, and since we can never be sure what we are going to be asked to do – evacuating a crag-bound climber in the corrie of Lochnagar, or searching for crashed military jets on Ben Macdui – constant training is important.

Maintaining an effective Mountain Rescue Team demands considerable commitment from its members, and substantial sums of money. For over 30 years the team’s main source of funding has been our annual sponsored walk. This walk, which takes place on the first Saturday in June, has become a family affair, and many of those who participate now with their children were themselves introduced to the walk by their parents. Although the walk, run by the team’s parent organisation – The Aberdeen and St John Mountain Rescue Association – raises a substantial proportion of the funds needed to keep the team running, it is necessary to top this up and for that we are grateful to a variety of individuals and organisations for donations.

Team members have a strong understanding of what it is that attracts people to the hills, and whether it be the quest for adventure or simply a chance for some solitude, we all have a sense of the attraction and the risk. The fact that there is in this day and age a group of people who are prepared to give so much of their time and energy to help others is, I believe, testimony to the camaraderie that binds the hill-walking and mountaineering community together. Mountain rescue has changed radically over the last 30 years and teams now have to demonstrate high levels of professional competence and commitment.

It is, however, with some disquiet and concern that I have witnessed the growing pressure on teams, brought about by such things as the use of mobile phones to ‘summon’ help, often unnecessarily, and the development of a litigation culture in which voluntary organisations such as rescue teams are very vulnerable. The future will hold many challenges for the Aberdeen team and demands placed upon us will continue to grow; I am, however, equally certain that Aberdeen Mountain Rescue Team is up to the challenge.

Mario Di Maio joined the team in 1970 as a youth of 17, since when he has been involved in over 300 callouts. ‘My first major callout was the Cairngorm Disaster in 1971 in which five children and an instructor died in a blizzard. I became team leader in 1992. When not leading the team, I am deputy rector at Aboyne Academy.’

This is an article from the October 2004 edition of Leopard Magazine. To read much more like this every month, subscribe to Leopard Magazine.