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Ogwen Valley is the most northerly of the main valleys in the Snowdonia National Park, North Wales, UK. The mountains that surround the valley are about 1000 metres high and the terrain varies quite considerably. With eleven of the Welsh 3000-feet peaks and cliffs that reach about 300-400 metres in height our area is very popular with both walkers and climbers.
The Carneddau mountains to the north of our base at Bryn Poeth (Oggie Base) are high and open, but there is also open moorland with heather, bracken and sheep, as well as areas of dense forest and fast rivers around Capel Curig. This mixture of terrain calls for the team members to be competent in high angle rescue work as well as open terrain search and swift water techniques.
As a rescue team we now have over 100 callouts per year. There are approximately 50 people on the team, all volunteers, many of whom are qualified to a high standard of First Aid. We also have a number of Search Managers and Swift Water Rescue technicians. Although we are completely independent of the Police we work at their request; Team Members are then contacted by telephone or SMS. Our usual response time to an incident is typically 20 minutes before deploying someone on to the hill and a full team callout can be effected within 30 minutes. RAF Valley has a flight of Sea King SAR helicopters 20 minutes' flying time away and we often work together in rescuing and searching for people.
The fifth annual Oggie 8 Challenge will be held on Saturday 11th August 2012. Check the Oggie 8 Challenge page for full details.
Friday 11 May 2012 - Llanllechid
A 30 year old vulnerable male reported he had fallen and was lost in mist on the hillside above Llanllechid. He was very distressed so two team leaders went directly to the scene to locate him and asked for ambulance and police support. The male had managed to reach the road at the top of the village where the team members met up with him and then delivered him to the ambulance crew waiting in the village.
Sun 20 May 10:00 Base
TRR Training (Kirk Mauthner)
Mon 21 May 09:00 Base
TRR Technician Course (4 day with Kirk Mauthner)
Sun 3 June 10:00 Local area
Team Exercise
Mon 4 June 20:00 On Hill
Diamond Jubilee Beacon
Wed 13 June 19:00 Base/river
Water Awareness (Level 1) Core Skills
Wed 20 June 19:00 Base/Penmachno Bike Trail
Penmachno Trail Recce
Wed 27 June 19:00 BASE
MICRO NAVIGATION TRAINING
Sun 1 July 10:00 Base
Cas Care (Core Skills)
Wed 4 July 19:00 Base
AUTHORISED DRIVER ASSESSMENTS
Sun 8 July 10:00 BASE
FATAL INCIDENT TRAINING
Sat 16 June 09:00 SO 129273
Camping weekend
Sat 7 July 10:00 Oggie Base
333 Navigation Day
Sun 15 July 09:00 TBC
Mid Summer Madness Walk
Sat 1 September 10:00 Oggie base
GPS training - joint 333 and team event
Sat 29 September 10:00 Oggie Base
Tracking
Our main webcam points towards Y Garn with Llyn Ogwen in the foreground. We have another pointing in the opposite direction towards Capel Curig and a third pointing at Tryfan, but this one can move depending upon operational requirements.
Click here to see all our cameras.
At 14:33 on 23/04/12 the weather conditions reported by our weather station were:
| Temperature | 5.9 °C |
| Feels like | 5.9 °C |
| Rainfall rate | 0.0 mm/hr |
| Pressure | 994.1 mb Steady |
| Wind direction | 171 ° S |
| Wind speed | 0.0 mph |
The area forecast at this time was:
Increasing clouds with little temperature change. Precipitation possible within 12 hours, possibly heavy at times. Windy.
Further details can be found on our weather page.
In an emergency dial 999 and ask for the police.
There have been 44 incidents involving 64 people so far this year, which is about one every 3.1 days.
Altogether there have been at least 2194 incidents involving 3473 people since 1961.
