Mountain rescue volunteers struggle as TikTok tourism drives surge in callouts

Mountain rescue volunteers need to be supported to avoid burnout, as more and more callouts fuelled by ill-prepared visitors flocking to TikTok-famous honeypot sites impact heavily on their workload.

Mike Park, CEO of Mountain Rescue England and Wales, a charity committed to supporting mountain rescue teams, spoke to us about the pressures faced by modern volunteer crews.

There are 49 volunteer mountain rescue teams across England and Wales who provide a search and rescue capability to the mountainous and remote areas of the countryside. They operate 24/7, throughout the year, and are capable of working in all terrain and any weather. Teams are typically made up of between 40 and 50 unpaid volunteers, who usually have day jobs, including in other emergency services roles.

Depending on the nature of the rescue, volunteers can be out for two to four hours or for more protracted periods, in teams of about 10 to 20. Teams often assist neighbouring teams and are normally called out by the local police authority or the ambulance service through a mountain rescue development call out system which integrates with all the other statutory emergency services.

Mike’s team is the Cockermouth Mountain Rescue team, part of the Lake District Search and Mountain Rescue Association (LD SAMRA). They, like all mountain rescue teams across England and Wales, are facing a litany of challenges at the moment, including a rising workload and a change in the typical jobs they’re being called out to.

“Workload across the country has increased by 25% over the last five years. Some of our teams are seeing greater pressure than others as the public flocks to the honeypot sites within our national parks. For instance, one team, Llanberis [which includes the very popular tourist magnet that is Yr Wydffa/Snowdon], is responsible for about 10% of our total call outs across the country.”

The experience level of visitors to beauty spots is shifting thanks to social media, according to Mike. “As a broad brush statement, we’ve seen a lot more high maintenance clientele: visitors who are less well prepared for being in the environment, both physically and mentally.”

Walkers often do not have the right gear, and do not always have the navigation, route-picking and planning skills required to safely deal with terrains that can become dangerous in changing weather conditions. Beauty spots go viral on platforms like TikTok and Instagram, and Mike says this has led to a two-fold increase in rescues of Gen-Z walkers (aged 18-25) in the last five years.

“It’s not surprising that those likely to be relying most on their phones are the ones getting into difficulties.”

The work of LD SAMRA, which carries out 25% of all mountain rescues in England and Wales, has been hugely boosted by its working relationship with Cumbria Police. Mike is extremely positive about their integration, which has grown into a partnership with the other statutory emergency services in Cumbria and the Cat-One and Cat-Two organisations that make up the Cumbria Local Resilience Forum. It’s enabled the agencies to work effectively during crises like the 2009 and 2015 Cumbria floods, the Beast from the East heavy snowfall, the 2007 Grayrigg train derailment, the 2010 A66 school coach crash, and the Derek Bird shootings, which occurred 15 years ago this June.

Despite this powerful relationship which enables teams like Mike’s to work efficiently with other agencies, a key area of concern for Mountain Rescue England and Wales is the wellbeing of their volunteers.

Mike says there were over 3,784 rescue call outs last year, requiring 167,411 volunteer hours, and there wasn’t a single day in 2024 without at least one rescue. Some individual teams have reported being called out to respond to as many as six separate incidents in one day. When added to the time spent training, preparing, fundraising and carrying out maintenance tasks, this equates to over half a million volunteer hours or 4.1 million pounds at a minimum wage, if the volunteers were being paid. Efforts are being made to ensure that volunteers avoid burnout, including discussions with the newly formed voluntary rescue services all party parliamentary group and various other government departments, but Mike says that “the reality of sustaining this type of commitment in the long term is marginal for some of the busier teams without some serious innovative thinking.”

Looking to the future, though, Mike is confident that the work of Mountain Rescue England and Wales will continue to thrive precisely because its volunteers are so committed.

“The organisation is made up of 3,000 volunteers who are the most innovative, passionate and doggedly determined people I have ever met.”

There is still a great deal of work to be done to ensure that volunteers feel equipped and fully supported in carrying out their crucial unpaid role without the risk of burnout. Mike hopes that innovations in technology within mountain rescue over the last 20 years will be followed by development in “the human aspect of the organisation: supporting our people as they are the most important and valuable asset we have.”

His advice to emergency services professionals across all agencies who want to build their relationship with their local mountain rescue team is to get out on the ground with the teams, get to know their feel and culture, and “be prepared to walk in other shoes.”

The industry will once again be gathering at the NEC, Birmingham for The Emergency Services Show, co-located with The Emergency Tech Show, on 17-18 September, check out the full exhibitor list here. You can find Mountain Rescue England and Wales in Hall 5, Stand CZ83.

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