Climbers abandon wheelchair-using friend halfway up Welsh mountain

From The Times in the UK:

A group of climbers has been criticised after they abandoned a wheelchair-bound friend halfway up Mount Snowdon (pictured).

Six martial arts experts were on a sponsored charity climb up the peak in North Wales, carrying the man in his wheelchair.

But before they reached the summit they found it too difficult to keep carrying him and decided to carry on up the mountain without the 31-year-old man, leaving him sitting alone on the path.

By the time they came back down for him they were too tired to resume the wheelchair lift and had to call out rescuers. He was helped to safety by a mountain rescue team and was found to be suffering from mild exposure.

The man had been left at the foot of Allt Moses (Moses Hill) where the terrain becomes steep and rocky.

Climber Dave Morrell, 44, who saw the rescue, said: “The poor bloke was sitting there in his wheelchair for quite a while. It was a bit mean of them to leave him there while they carried on to the top. But other climbers went over to talk to him. He was just getting very cold.”

Fifteen members of Llanberis mountain rescue team carried the man to the mountain railway. A train then brought him down the peak.

Martial arts enthusiasts from across the country had been taking part in a world record bid at the weekend to see how many black belts and others could climb a mountain in a day. They were also raising money for a girl with cerebral palsy.

There are a number of charity wheelchair pushes every year up the mountain. But rescuers said they normally involved bigger parties because of the effort required.

Ian Henderson of Llanberis mountain rescue team said it was a “cheeky” callout which could have been avoided.

“This party were poorly prepared and felt it was OK to carry on to the summit rather than turn around and get him down the mountain,” he said.

“At what point did they think ’it’s OK we’ll get the rescue team to push him down?’”

Guides describe Llanberis Path as the most popular tourist route up Snowdon but at five miles also the longest.