Record busy year for Scottish mountain rescue teams

Image source, Getty Images

Scottish Mountain Rescue (SMR) had its busiest year on record in 2021.

The organisation's member teams attended 660 incidents, which included hillwalking accidents and searches for missing people.

The total number of separate team call outs was 951, which included linked call-outs on different days.

The incidents involved 19 fatalities, with seven of the deaths related to mountaineering.

Kev Mitchell, vice chairman of SMR, said it had been an extremely busy year for its volunteers.

He added: "This illustrates the huge commitment shown by team members and their families to ensure that hill-goers have a free world-class mountain rescue service when they need it throughout Scotland."

SMR represents 25 civilian member teams - including Aberdeen, Galloway, Ochils, Tweed Valley and Skye - as well as three Police Scotland mountain rescue teams and one RAF team.