A Guide to: A safe day out in the brecon beacons

A GUIDE TO:
A SAFE DAY
OUT IN THE
BRECON
BEACONS
IN ASSOCIATION WITH:
WESTERN BEACONS
MOUNTAIN RESCUE TEAM.

A GUIDE TO:
A SAFE DAY OUT
IN THE BRECON
BEACONS
IN ASSOCIATION
WITH:
WESTERN BEACONS
MOUNTAIN RESCUE
TEAM

© Scott Beckett
Scott Beckett
UWTSD, Carmarthen.
https://sbmediaoutdoors.uk/

INTRODUCTION
The Brecon Beacons National Park is a mystical part of the
world, with a vast variety of unique landscapes and
environments, each stunning in their own right. With visitor
numbers rapidly increasing
each year, accelerated by the
Covid-19 Pandemic, it is
important that this influx of
new guests to the beautiful
Brecon Beacons are
educated and informed on
how to go about seeing what
the National Park has to offer
safely and responsibly.
The Brecon Beacons
National Park is
covered by 3
Mountain Rescue
Teams, each made up
of entirely volunteers
and are funded by
donations from the
public, meaning there
is a limited capacity
that they can work to. An increase in callouts means more
resources being used, therefore if preventable incidents can
be stopped, resources can be spent where they are more
needed. The aim of this digital guide is to do exactly that:
minimise preventable incidents/callouts for mountain rescue
teams by giving helpful advice, tips and pointers as to how
to enjoy the Brecon Beacons and Beyond

1.
NAVIGATION
Planning a day out generally starts with the where.
Where you go can be determined by multiple
factors whether that be word of mouth from friends,
trawling the internet for holiday ideas or seemingly more
often than not social media platforms such as Instagram or
TikTok, inadvertently advertising as a secondary means to
likes and followers, showcasing these locations.
When planning a walk, things to consider include a planned
start and finish time; taking into account breaks, the ability of
yourself and who you’re with, as well as an emergency
contact, who will be expecting a message within a certain
time frame after your planned finish time, or they will alert
emergency services with information as to your plan.
Applications such as OSMaps can be used via a phone or
desktop site to plan a route and share it for others to see.
You can then print off these routes onto paper, something
you should always do as a backup as technology can fail
and run out of battery.
Popular locations such as waterfall country have Maps and
guide books available for purchase from information centres
across the park. It is important to plan a route before hand
and when out stick to established, proper paths as the vast
majority of incidents in waterfall country happen on unofficial
footpaths.

If in trouble apps such as
OSLocate can be used to give
mountain rescue your Grid
Reference. This is preferable to
alternatives such as What3Words
as call handlers report that there
are often mistakes with word
spellings leading to emergency
services being misguided to the
wring locations. Taking note of
the grid reference where you
park is also important as there
are often multiple car parks
signposted from landmarks, so it
is easy to get confused. If you
are using a phone for navigate,
be sure to also carry a portable
charger and paper back up as a
spare.

2.
WEATHER
Wales isn’t always best known for it’s gorgeous
sunshine all year round. Whilst you may get lucky
if visiting during the summer, for 11 months of the
year, there is a sizeable chance of seeing 4 seasons
in one day, especially if out in the hills.
Before heading out, it is a good idea to check at least 2
weather forecasts for the area you are going. Whilst there
are many to choose from in todays digital era, the Met Office
& Mountain Weather Information Service (MWIS) are
generally both reliable at depicting what is going on local to
where you are planing to be and of the national park as a
whole.
https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/
https://www.mwis.org.uk/forecasts/
english-and-welsh/brecon-beacons

When looking at a weather forecasts, factors to consider
include:
• Where? - looking at a specific location will give a good
impression of temperature, precipitation etc. A more
generic area forecast can give an idea as to what might
happen with water levels/future weather patterns.
• When? - What will the weather be doing for the
duration of when you are planning to be there? But also
after? Will the weather be getting worst? How could this
have an effect if there was an incident and you couldn’t
leave the area?
• Wetness? - How much water will there be falling from
the sky? On the ground? In Rivers? How can you dress
appropriately?
• Windiness? - How strong will it be? Could it be a
hazard to your wellbeing in the location you want to go?
• What will it feel like? - How will the precipitation and
wind chill effect the perceived temperature? What clothing/
equipment will you need?

3.
EQUIPMENT
Alfred Wainwright once said “There's no such thing as
bad weather, only unsuitable clothing.” And the
Brecon Beacons can undoubtedly put this to the
test. It is for that reason, that the British SAS
special forces train there. The Beacons can be just as
inhospitable as some of the most remote places on earth,
therefore it is important that when exploring it you are
wearing and carrying the right equipment.
When preparing for a day out in the hills, it is important
that you consider not only the time frame that you expect to
be out, but also what you may need if you find yourself stuck
out in it for longer in an emergency situation. Maybe the
forecast is clear when you intend to be out but rain is due to
come in later. If someone was to fall, and break their ankle
mountain rescue could take hours to be there depending on
weather, location and team availability so you need to be
prepared to wait it out.
In contrast to this, in the summer, having the right
equipment to deal with warmer, sunnier weather can be as
important in ensure a safe day out in the hills.

Equipment to consider carrying includes:
• A waterproof rain jacket
• Waterproof over trousers
• Synthetic/ warm jacket
• Hat
• Gloves
• Neck scarf
• Bivvy bag/group shelter.
• Hand Warmer/heat peaks
• Foam mat.
• Sun Hat
• Sunglasses
• Suncream
• Extra drink hot/cold.

4.
ETIQUETTE
When exploring the Brecon Beacons, there are
lots of smaller things that you can do as a visitor
that ensure that both yourselves and other users
of the national park have a safe and enjoyable time.
When people don’t stick to these simple rules, it makes
life for national park staff, it’s visitors and emergency
services a lot more nuisance than it needs to be!
These Include:
Close any gates you find closed,
Leave open ones open
Use toilet facilities provided around
the park, especially in busy areas.
It’s a mountain, not a minefield!

•
Take any and all litter home with you.
Glass and disposable barbecues are
incidents waiting to happen. Leave it
cleaner than you found it!
Park in dedicated car parks. If these are all full, come back
another day!

5.
WHAT TO DO IN AN
EMERGENCY
If you find yourself in an emergency situation and have
followed this guide up to this point, here is what you
should do to ensure the best outcome:
1. Stay Calm; Reassure yourself and anyone
else involved.
2. In the event that someone is in immediate
danger, you MUST put your own safety and
the safety of any other party members first.
3. If possible, make the casualty as
comfortable as you can. If weather conditions
are poor, try and keep them as warm and off
the ground if possible. If warm, keep them out
of the sun and as cool as possible.
4. Call 999 and ask for the police, then ask for
mountain rescue. Asking for an ambulance will
only delay how long it takes mountain rescue
to be mobilised.

5. Mountain rescue will need a way to locate you.
They have access to phone find technology but may
also require a grid reference. OSLocate can be used
to get this.
6. After alerting help, all you can do is wait. Try and
keep yourself and everyone else as comfortable as
possible, ensure no one gets too cold or hot, as
gradual hypo or hyper thermia is very difficult to treat.
7. Bright coloured equipment/clothing can help attract
attention of emergency services. Making your
presence known to anyone who approaches will make
it easier for you to be found.
8. When help arrives, give them any relevant
information possible that could help them with the
extraction or treatment of any casualties.

SO MUCH MORE THAN MOUNTAINS
The team responds to calls for assistance from the Police or
Ambulance Service, usually following a 999 call from a member
of the public. Our patch is one of the largest areas covered by a
single Mountain Rescue Team in the U.K. We respond to call outs
from two police forces, South Wales and Dyfed Powys.
24/7 365 Days a Year!
During a typical year the we respond to between 60 to 80 call outs
and are available 24-hours a day, 365 days a year. Call outs come
at all times of the day or night and can be in mountainous, rural,
semi-urban, or urban areas. No matter the time or whatever the
weather, our volunteers are always ready and able to respond.
We have the capability to carry out search and rescue operations in
remote and rough terrain. The team has a fully equipped mobile
incident control vehicle, a dedicated water rescue vehicle and 2
4×4’s enabling off road access. The team carries specialist cliff
rescue equipment enabling us to rescue people from dangerous
locations. We also have a rescue raft and trained Swift Water
Rescue Technicians. We support the Police in searching for
missing walkers or vulnerable people in both rural and urban
environments.
The team is a registered charity (No. 1180863 ) and relies heavily
on donations towards equipment and operational costs. If you wish
to support us you can find full details of how to do so on our
Fundraising page.
Serving the communities of Mid, South and West Wales since
1964