Snowdon mountain rescue record as bad weather catches out walkers

Mountainsafe discs on stiles and gates give map grid references for lost climbers in pyjamas or superhero costumesStand at the summit of Snowdon on a clear day and you can gaze across the Irish Sea. But the volunteer mountain rescue team has had a record 103 call-outs so far this year as climbers get into difficulties while ill-prepared for inclement weather in a summer where mist and rain have frequently obscured the view.Temperatures at the summit have on occasion fallen to 5C (41F). Last year, the Snowdonia National Park Authority counted 404,188 visitors – 71,056 of them in August. It represented a slight dip on the 2010 figure of 430,258.The park's warden, Gruff Owen, said the summer weather of 2012 had been as bad as he could remember in recent years. The consequent record number of mountain rescue callouts had made it the busiest in the UK."This summer, more than...

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