Central Beacons Mountain Rescue Team

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Central Beacons Mountain Rescue Team

Central Beacons Mountain Rescue Team operates in the Brecon Beacons National Park & surrounding areas The team covers the central area of the Brecon Beacons.
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The Team trains regularly, meeting weekly and an all day exercise once a month. The team is made up of volunteers, who give up their time to help people in trouble on the mountains in urban areas and flooding. Incorporating Pen-y-Fan, the highest point at 886m and the valley of Ystradfellte waterfalls, Newport, Cardiff and the valleys. The total area that we provide cover for is 1437 square km. Th

ere are a total of 4 civilian mountain rescue teams that cover the Brecon Beacons National Park and South Wales. We can also be called to assist in searches with one of the other teams or police authority. The team operates from its base at Merthyr Tydfill near the Brecon Beacons. Team members come from all walks of life from students and school teachers to accountants, office workers and engineers. The team is called out using a call-out system that is activated by the police. Further messages then inform members of where and what the incident is. Members go to base and take the first response Vehicle to the incident site and establish a temporary control. The Control Vehicle then leaves with a crew. Members who cannot make the Control Vehicle then make their way to the RV Point. The team is a fully voluntary organisation, and is on-call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. We rely primarily on donations from members of the public to maintain this essential life-saving rescue service. You can help support the work we do by clicking this link:
https://www.justgiving.com/centralbeaconsmrt

https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/cbmrt/

You can also help if you like and share our posts to raise awareness of the work we do.

28/08/2026

£16,500. 💛

That’s how much this year’s Cardiff Three Peaks Challenge raised for Central Beacons Mountain Rescue Team, and we genuinely cannot thank you enough.

To every single person who signed up, walked, fundraised, donated, bought a raffle ticket, shared our posts or supported the event in any way, thank you. Just under £16,500 is an absolutely massive amount of money for our team and will make a very real difference.

As a volunteer mountain rescue team, we rely on fundraising and donations to keep us operational 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The money raised through C3P helps us maintain and replace essential rescue equipment, keep our vehicles on the road, train our volunteers and, ultimately, continue responding when people need our help.

A huge thank you also goes to our event sponsor Osprey Europe, and to Spring PR, Igloo Coolers and Bridgedale for supporting us and helping make this year’s event such a success.

And finally, to everyone who joined us out on the hills: THANK YOU. We hope your legs have forgiven us by now.

Keep your eyes peeled… 👀

We’ll be announcing the date for Cardiff Three Peaks 2027 very soon.

27/08/2026

💷 Want to raise money for Mountain Rescue without actually doing very much?

We’ve got just the thing.

Central Beacons Mountain Rescue Team is now registered as a charity with TopCashback, which means you can raise money for the team simply by doing your normal online shopping.

If you already use TopCashback, you can choose Central Beacons Mountain Rescue Team as your nominated charity and donate some or all of your cashback to us.

But here’s the really good bit…

If you’re new to TopCashback and sign up using our referral link, TopCashback will donate £2 to CBMRT just for you joining. You don’t even have to use it afterwards.

So obviously, if you’re already signed up, you should definitely NOT create another account using a different email address and our referral link just so we get another £2.

No. Absolutely not.

We would never suggest such a thing.

👀

For everyone else, signing up takes a couple of minutes, costs you nothing and gives our fundraising pot a little £2 boost:

https://www.awin1.com/cread.php?awinmid=2459&awinaffid=3045157

And if you then use TopCashback when you shop online, you can keep earning cashback for yourself or donate it to CBMRT.

Tiny effort. Potentially a very big difference if enough people do it. 🏔️

20/08/2026

Callouts Update:
It’s 7 days since our last update, since when we’ve attended 8 incidents:

Thursday 13 August: An afternoon of 3 incidents at the Waterfalls area of Bannau Brycheiniog - Brecon Beacons - National Park.
A walker reported as collapsed and unwell near Clun Gwyn waterfall, a walker with a finger injury sustained during a fall on their walk, a couple we found off their intended walking route who we reunited with their vehicle at Gwaun Hepste car park.

Monday 17 August: Another afternoon out, this time assisting our First Responder friends and WAST Paramedics at Bike Park Wales with two separate injuries, a suspected broken hip and an ankle.
While we were finishing there it was back to the waterfalls for a reported ankle injury. As we were arriving we received a message that the injured person had been able to get back to the car park all safe and we stood down.
Later on, at 10pm we were back there for two walkers reported lost along the 4 Falls Trail. We quickly located them and got them safely back to their vehicle, back to base shortly before midnight.

Wednesday 19 August: Waterfalls area again, this time a walker with an ankle injury after slipping on loose stones and unable to weight bear. Our Remote Rescue Medics treated as a suspected broken ankle, splinted it and the team carried the walker out of the gorge on one our stretchers for onward journey to hospital.

Terrific joint working throughout all incidents this week with Dyfed-Powys Police and Welsh Ambulance Services University NHS Trust (WAST).

2026 so far: 143 requests for help, 130 deployments.
Alongside all the incidents we’ve attended, our usual training and other events continue and there’ll be a separate update on those soon.

14/08/2026

At this point, they only have themselves to blame…

13/08/2026

Following yesterday’s update on our recent callouts, here’s a bit of footage from the incident we attended on Tuesday.

While the stretcher is being winched to the helicopter our role is to manage the hi-line which helps stabilise the stretcher making as smooth as possible journey for the casualty.

12/08/2026

Callouts Catch Up;
We continue to be out a lot, the last 3 days have given us 4 callouts/deployments, taking us to 10 for August so far this month.

Sunday 9 August:
A 11.00am request to assist at Waterfalls Country, a walker who’d slipped on rock and dislocated their shoulder. With assistance from their partner they had made some progress out of the gorge but too much pain to walk further.
After full assessment and pain relief from our Remote Rescue Medics, the gentleman was slowly escorted to their vehicle for onward journey to hospital.

Shortly after 6.00pm we were back out, this time called to Cwmcarn Forestry Drive for a young mountain bike rider who’d sustained a fractured ankle.
Fortunately we were able to get our 4x4 response vehicles close by and after pain relief with splinting administered by one of our team doctors and medics we transported the young man, with great help from local Gwent Police Officers, to the visitor centre car park where we met our friends from MedserveWales and Welsh Ambulance Services University NHS Trust (WAST) for the journey to hospital.

Monday 10 August:
A teatime request to assist at Bike Park Wales and a rider with spinal and chest injuries. The first responders had done their usual great job with initial treatment and stabilisation of the casualty, we then assisted the WAST paramedic crews with extricating to the awaiting ambulance.

Tuesday 11 August:
At 3.50pm we were contacted by Dyfed-Powys Police to assist the rescue of a person who’d fallen at Clun Gwyn Isaf waterfall in Bannau Brycheiniog - Brecon Beacons - National Park and sustained head, neck and spinal injuries.
Working closely with WAST, WAST HART and Air Ambulance Emergency Medical Retrieval and Transfer Service - EMRTS Wales, the casualty was treated, packaged and winched out of the gorge aboard Maritime and Coastguard Agency Rescue Helicopter St Athan, then flown to hospital.
It was then back to base at 8.00pm with kit and vehicles prepared for the next time.

We wish all our casualties speedy recoveries from their injuries.

2026 so far:
135 requests for help, 122 deployments

09/08/2026

Because what team member doesn’t enjoy featuring in a surprise post on a Sunday morning…

05/08/2026

Callouts Catch Up:

Through the first 5 days of August we’ve attended 6 incidents, which takes us to 131 requests for help and 118 deployments this year.

Saturday 1 August: 3 incidents at Waterfalls Country of the Bannau Brycheiniog - Brecon Beacons - National Park which started at 2.50pm when we were contacted by Dyfed-Powys Police.
Initial request was to Sgwd yr Pannwr waterfall for a reported diabetic incident which turned out to be heat related tiredness.
As that was being sorted a passerby alerted us to a walker who’d fallen further down the same path, a twisted and sprained ankle was the outcome of the person’s fall.
After full assessments by our Remote Rescue Medics, both casualties were able to be slowly walked out of the gorge to vehicle transport. During the walk out we were approached for help by two fatigued and dehydrated walkers. After giving plenty of drinking water and reassurance we escorted them as well to a place for vehicle transport.

Monday 3 August:
At 7.10pm we were back at the waterfalls to a request for assistance to a family group who had become separated on their walk with each of them becoming unsure of all their whereabouts.
We commenced searches of the main trails and soon after we’d started our Incident Controller received a phone call from a family member grateful for our assistance and confirming they’d all found each other and were back at their car.

Tuesday 4 August:
An early start at 4.45am with a request from Gwent Police to help search an area of country park at Aberbargoed following multiple reports of calls for help coming from the park.
A rapid, comprehensive search by both ground teams and our drone team found no one in need of help. With other police enquiries indicating the person had vacated the area we stood down in time for team members to go to their workplaces.

Wednesday 5 August:
Another early hours occasion, this time with South Wales Police and Welsh Ambulance Services University NHS Trust at 1.15am, to assist the extrication of a person with pelvis and shoulder injuries on the mountain above Abercynon.
Swift joint working between ourselves and the WAST Paramedics ensured the person was soon safely in the ambulance.
Back at base just before 4.00am with the used kit all sorted ready to go for the next time.

02/08/2026

Callouts Update:
Our second half of July had the same busy activity as the first half of the month, ending up with us receiving 25 requests for help in July with team members deploying to 23.

This takes us to 128 and 115 deployments in total this year so far.

The latter half of July saw us attending locations all across our area. The Central Brecon Beacons mountains and Waterfalls Country, but also the Gwent Valleys (Twmbarlwm, Blaina), Rhondda Valley at Maerdy, Taffs Well a couple of times and Garwnant Forestry.

Lower leg and ankle fractures, hips and pelvis fractures/dislocations, shoulder/neck injuries, onset of various medical conditions and heat related problems, have all been reasons for us being called out.

As usual it’s been terrific joint working with South Wales Police Dyfed-Powys Police Gwent Police Welsh Ambulance Services University NHS Trust, , Brecon Mountain Rescue Team Western Beacons Mountain Rescue Team South Wales Fire and Rescue Service

Being as busy as we are our kit must be kept repeatedly cleaned and maintained. So it’s another shout out of thanks to our friends at Clean'd Ltd for their continued support, not only for cleaning but also speedy return so the kit items are straight back into operational readiness.

The first weekend of August has already seen us out a few times, but more on those in our next callouts’ update!

26/07/2026

Nothing further to add…

Address

Blaen Dowlais, Rear Of High Street, Dowlais
Merthyr Tydfil
CF483PW

Telephone

+441685708800

Website

http://www.cbmrt.org.uk/, https://cardiffthreepeakschallenge.co.uk/

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