UKC

Thought some people here might be interested in this. The second series of SOS Extreme Rescues started last week on BBC and all episodes are available on iPlayer. The series follows the emergency services around Eryri including mountain rescue and the coastguard. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001v278/episodes/player

we narrowly missed being featured on this series by a couple of weeks. it would have been in equal measure fascinating and embarrassing to have our rescue televised.

Saw a few of the first series.  Hardly extreme.  One or two people in a slightly tricky situation.  The editors and camera folk tried their best to make it all very exciting, but it really was a bit pathetic.  I was left pretty shocked at how useless people are!  

Interestingly the commentator kept referring to Yr Wyddfa and the rescue team to Snowdon.  I did like the way she rolled her Rs in Yr Eryri.  We seem to seldom pronounce the R in standard English and it has a nice rolling sound in Welsh, far better than the guttural French.

We aren't the intended audience.

I thought it was all well filmed and interesting. Sure I wanted to throw things at the tv a few times...

Fortunately the rescuers themselves don't share that approach.  Thinking of myself and how my confidence on steep ground has changed over the years (and I'm still not always good at it) I think these people will have been genuinely terrified, not just "a bit pathetic".

... with Trevor Eve, Friday at nine, on BBC One.

Was about to post to recommend the same. It also includes the emergency services and the RNLI and search dog volunteers. Really well done in my view. Also some great aerial photography and what the terrain is like on areas most never visit (eg looser parts of the west face of Tryfan).

I think quite a few of those rescued were maybe ignorant of the risks but most were unlucky and none were pathetic. 

We have to remember that we are likely to be more comfortable on steep terrain than a lot of those who visit the region. Rescue teams would much rather people call for assistance when they get in to difficulties rather than try to push on and make things worse, potentially falling and becoming injured. 

I'd certainly not describe those featured as useless, and we all make mistakes in the mountains but usually get away with them. I know I've made a few!

The show is going to be produced to be of interest to the general non-mountaineering public who visit the area for holidays, and may give some safety messaging appropriate for that group. 

I feel this point needs hammering home. Much as I'm sure mrt volunteers would prefer not to have their Sunday afternoon distributed by someone who's 'just' stuck, being called out late evening to a fatal or traumatic injury that has them up all night is even less enjoyable. 

Being responsible isn't just about not getting into bad situations, it's also knowing when you need to stop and call for help before things take a turn for the worse.

Unfortunately, the "danger" aspect is constantly exaggerated and hammered home by the sensationalist rantings of the voice-over artist, who repeatedly claims that everybody who is on any rescue is in constant dire danger of injury or death.

This may well lead to yet more inexperienced persons wanting to demonstrate their machismo, and hence further unnecessary callouts.

More importantly it will also mean that "the general non-mountaineering public" will be more inclined to believe that those of us who do enjoy the mountains etc. are putting the emergency organisations at risk on a regular basis, and that we should be prevented from going to such places. This on its' own wouldn't necessarily cause a problem, but every time some access issues arise then public opinion will be more likely to come down on the side of the landowner rather than walkers/climbers.

This simply isn't my experience of watching the show... the risks are very real until a rescue is successful. What you say would imply culpability of the emergency services and volunteer rescue teams. If anything I think the show understates the impact of ambulance service being very overstretched at times. Long ambulance waiting times mean those rescued add risks in their journey to hospital in some other form of transport. I've not seen all the episodes but haven't seen anything on what happens when they arrive at hospital as yet... the hospitals in the region are also overstretched at times.

Unfortunately at a time of record accident rates the money in emergency services and national parks has never been tighter.

... or, as one mountain rescue guy I spoke to succinctly put it: "We much prefer rescuing live people to recovering dead bodies".
 

Just watched the first rescue of S2. What an inspirational couple! And a really nice story with a successful outcome!