North Wales Police has changed how it handles 999 calls from mountains and remote areas after two young climbers died on Yr Wyddfa. The move follows an inquest into the deaths of Jayden Long, 19, and Eddie Hill, 20, who had travelled from Norwich to climb the mountain in February this year.
The pair were forced to turn back because of poor weather. After Mr Long called 999, the call was disconnected, and although police tried to call back, they were not reconnected. Mountain rescue was not contacted by the force until 7.38pm, more than three hours later.
What happened on the mountain
The friends parked in the Pen-y-Pass car park on February 18 and began their ascent, although the route they took is not known, assistant coroner Sarah Riley said. The pair turned back due to weather conditions, a message from Mr Hill to his girlfriend showed.
At 4.27pm, Mr Long rang North Wales Police and said "hello" and "can you hear me", but the call was discontinued. The climbers were found dead at 11.04am the following day after falling down steep terrain covered in ice and snow, an inquest into their deaths found.
Coroner's concerns and new policy
The coroner ruled their deaths were accidental, but Ms Riley found there was no force-wide procedure guiding call handlers on what to do when dealing with calls from remote or mountainous areas. She also raised concerns about inadequate systems for sharing lessons learned from the incident. Ms Riley warned there was a "significant risk of future deaths" unless action was taken.
North Wales Police wrote a letter in response, saying its new policy instructs staff dealing with a silent or disconnected 999 call from a confirmed remote or mountainous location to consider alerting mountain rescue. The policy includes: "In the event of a silent or discontinued 999 call being received from a remote/mountainous location, if the location is confirmed via EISEC (BT-confirmed auto data) or other means of confirmation of location (eg GoodSAM Location Services) then consideration should be given to making the mountain rescue team aware for consideration of deployment if appropriate and relevant."
"Given the geography of north Wales, this action is proportionate as silent 999 calls from these locations, where the locations are confirmed, would be out of the ordinary."
Mountain rescue tribute
Jurgen Dissmann, chairman of Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team, said in a statement after the men's deaths: "I would like to extend our most heartfelt condolences to the families and loved ones of the two men who have tragically lost their lives. The team were tasked by North Wales Police and launched an extensive multi-agency operation in full winter conditions."
"Volunteers searched across challenging mountain terrain in snow and ice, working long hours through the night in difficult weather in an effort to locate the pair as quickly as possible. Despite the determined and sustained commitment of everyone involved, we are deeply saddened that, despite all efforts, the outcome was not what we had hoped for."
Paying tribute, Jayden's aunt, Stephanie Jolly, said: "We lost our wonderful nephew Jayden and his best friend Eddie as they climbed Mount Snowdon. The entire families and all of their friends are heartbroken by their loss."
