It’s a climb into insanity.
Welsh mountain rescue services claim to be constantly rescuing amateur climbers at height amid a proliferation of local hiking content on social media.
“The team dealt with several panic attacks,” the Ogden Valley Mountain Rescue organization wrote in a Facebook post, describing the anxiety on the peak.
Welsh mountain rescue teams claim to be constantly rescuing amateur climbers at height amid a proliferation of hiking content from the region on social media. Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Organisation
The rescue took place on Tryfan, a 3,010ft mountain in Snowdonia’s Ogden Valley known for its dangerous rock climbing.
“Tryfan is quite dangerous with a lot of climbing over and around ridges and rims,” warned the Ogden Valley Mountain Rescue Organization. Ogden Valley Mountain Rescue Organization Local residents have accused social media users (pictured) of encouraging amateur climbing. TikTok/@hollyhunter101
So far this year, Ogden Valley teams have been dispatched 97 times to rescue people from rock faces.
In a recent rescue, mountain rescue teams had to rescue a group of four people who were trapped 600 feet from the summit after one of the group “had a panic attack and was unable to move.”
“After calming and reassuring the injured person, the entire group was assisted down the mountain,” rescuers wrote.
Meanwhile, on July 12, there were reports that a group of four people had become stranded on the north ridge of Tryfan but were later found and escorted back to the main path, The Telegraph reported.
In light of the numerous incidents, the Ogden Valley platoon has issued a warning to inexperienced climbers considering the climb.
“The team dealt with several panic attacks,” Ogden Valley Mountain Rescue wrote.
“The Tryfan involves a lot of climbing over and around ridges and edges and is quite dangerous,” they warn. “Travelling the Tryfan by conventional means is difficult, especially in poor weather.
They added: “It’s not a straight line down to the car park, so don’t try to walk down the valley just because you can see the bottom.”
Locals blame social media for the madness, claiming that picturesque videos and photos are giving amateur climbers a false sense of difficulty.
Last summer, rangers at Snowdonia National Park struggled to cope with large numbers of tourists during the COVID-19 pandemic and asked visitors to stop uploading media content while hiking.
A May video that has been viewed nearly 50,000 times on TikTok shows Gen Z content creator @brooklynlouisa attempting to reach the summit of Mount Snowdon, the highest peak in Wales, at 3,560 feet above sea level.
“The view from the top was absolutely breathtaking,” she says emotionally in the video.
The other shows influencer @hollyhunter101 making the same climb a few years ago.
The video is captioned: “When I decided to take a leap of faith and climb Mount Snowdon despite having no hiking experience.”
