The Team train every Monday Night at 7pm at Eric's Café Tremadog, and also once a month on a Sunday. The Training is varied, and encompasses the training guidelines set by the Mountain Rescue Council of England and Wales. We also use different venues for Training purposes, so that it presents a more realistic scenario; as we have no way knowing what the next incident will entail. Training includes at least one 1st Aid, Navigation and ropework session per month. All Team Members are encouraged to help and run Training Sessions as this benefits all. Whenever possible Team Members train with other local Rescue Teams including the Search Dogs, as this promotes good working relations & experience amongst the Teams.

Joining the Team
If you live in the Team's area and wish to join, you must have a minimum of two years mountain experience, be over eighteen years of age, and be prepared to be called out any time of the day or night. We accept potential member applications throughout the year. Prospective members are asked to attend on an invitation basis for up to six months providing that they can demonstrate their ability to navigate and cope on steep ground; on satisfactory completion of this trial they are invited to join the Team as an aspirant member. Full member status is reached on successful completion of a Hill Day Assessment. If you would like further information please contact our Training Officer.

The Team has one fully fledged member of SARDA Wales:

Trail Dog Team

Gwen & Rolf  passed their 1st Assessment in December 2004, as a Novice Trailing Dog Team. Unlike the other SARDA dogs, Rolf has been trained to trail a scent, and be able to scent discriminate in order to find a specific person.

Trailing involves the dog wearing a harness with the handler holding a long line and following behind. The dog follows the trail of the missing person using a combination of ground scent and air scent either side of where they have walked. A scent article is needed e.g. a hat or glove, so that the dog can discriminate the lost person scent from the scent of everyone else in the area. If there is a vehicle available and the Police can gain entry, the dog would be able to work by sniffing the Driver's seat. This would be particularly useful when all we have to go on is a car in the Car Park e.g. Pen y Pass. The dog would be able to give a clear direction of travel, so halving the search area.

Trailing is not very practical for Mountain Searches, unless the point last seen is the top of say Cnicht, where the dog may be able to provide a direction of travel for the ground troops. The Air Scenting Dogs will cover the area much quicker as they pick up on a concentration of any human scent, rather than a trail.

Urban searches, eapecially for Alzheimer's and children would be ideal as they don't tend to wander far from the 'Point Last Seen', but are difficult to find. Suicides that leave their vehicles somewhere would also be trailed to their chosen hiding place. I'm sure we would have had many on going searches brought to a quicker end if we'd had a Trailing Dog available at the time.

As Trailing is new, Gwen & Rolf are the only voluntary Trail Dog Team in Britain; it will take a while before we find out the pros & cons, the more Call Outs the Team attend the sooner we will know. Hopefully they will be a useful tool in the Mountain Rescue Box of Search Management.

Tom Middlemas of Arthurshiel Rescue Centre (www.tommiddlemas.com) , has been a great help in providing training help and advise to Gwen & Rolf, as he trains Blood Hounds in the same discipline, he also assessed the pair.

In December 2005 Gwen & Rolf passed their Advanced Level 2 Trail Assesssment, and passed their the Advanced Level 1 in December 2006. They now have three years before they have to be assessed again. Not bad for a Chocolate Labrador!!!

For further information on SARDA Wales, visit their website www.sardawales.org.uk