大象传媒

There are not many places in the world that have as varied a landscape as Eryri. And if someone needs help, the task of co-ordinating a response is an important and sometimes complex job.

North Wales Police get a call in the early hours of the morning, alerting them to a vehicle crash in Abersoch - one of the most remote parts of the Llyn peninsula. North Wales Police co-ordinate the fire, ambulance and mountain rescue teams, and upon arriving on site, it鈥檚 clear that the location of the accident means the agencies will need to work together to find the casualties, give them medical attention and get them across fields and over locked gates to the waiting ambulance.

In Coed Y Brenin, in south Eryri, another call-out demands similar teamwork and co-ordination. After going out mountain biking with her partner, a woman slips at the top of a waterfall and plummets 80 feet down a sheer drop, on to rocks at the bottom. She is seriously injured, with a fractured spine, shattered pelvis and a collapsed lung. A passing doctor stops to give emergency medical help, but her position at the base of a deep ravine in the heart of a dense forest makes it extremely challenging for rescuers to reach her and get her out. Air ambulance, the coastguard helicopter and search and rescue teams work together to get to her safety, give her emergency treatment and winch her out of the gorge to get her to hospital.

It鈥檚 the day of a big annual race in the heart of the Ogwen valley, and the rescue teams are poised and ready, expecting a flood of call-outs from injured athletes. But when a call for help does come in to base, it isn鈥檛 quite what the volunteers were expecting.