December 25, 2022: last winter, between February 27, 2022, and March 8, 2022, Seven climbers died in Scotland’s mountains. Since the start of the year, 33 people have been killed in incidents on hills and outdoor areas.
Due to these deaths, mountain rescue teams and police are urging climbers to plan and prepare before venturing out onto the hills this winter. They are also asking hikers to make sure they have sufficient equipment and supplies for all eventualities.
Last weekend, mountain rescue teams were called out four times to assist people who were in difficulty or injured.
lead officer for Mountain Rescue Inspector Matt Smith told to Edinburgh news “The end of last winter was particularly challenging with volunteer mountain rescue teams seeing a huge rise in incidents responding to people in difficulty. From January to March 2022, there was a 31% rise compared with the average over the same three-month period in the previous three years.