What It's Like Being In Mountain Rescue

...and how to be the friend who never calls.

- Philip Thomas

THE CALL CAN come at any time. It could be during a busy shift at work. It could be the middle of the night. But whenever someone calls Mountain Rescue, the UK’s volunteer teams are ready to respond – 24 hours a day, 365 days a year – and in all weathers. For many walkers they are the heroes of the hills, but more often than not, their vocation is more gruelling than it is glamorous.

“There’s nothing sexy about it at all!” chuckles Mick. “Most of the time we work at night, and most of the time it’s wet. It’s generally wet, cold, dark and horrid.” Mick Guy is a long-standing member of Keswick Mountain Rescue, one of 48 charitably-funded teams in England and Wales. He has 38 years’ experience as a volunteer and for 26 of those years he’s been a search dog handler. When Country Walking caught up with him on the slopes of Cat Bells, he was joined by his affable 12-year-old collie Ginny, herself a search and rescue veteran of 10 years. In October 2015, she clocked up her 250th call-out as a search dog, before hanging up her high-vis jacket last May for a well-earned retirement.

Keswick’s volunteers come from all walks of life. By day they’re teachers, carpenters, paramedics and hoteliers. But something they all have in common is a passion for the outdoors, selflessly looking out for the thousands of fellow walkers, climbers and mountain bikers who come to the Lake District to enjoy the fells.