Central Beacons Mountain Rescue Team rescued a walker recently who had slid headfirst down a slope and narrowly avoided a 20-foot drop after his foot became jammed between two trees.

On Sunday, May 17, the rescue team were taken away from their training in the morning to assist ambulance paramedics with an injured mountain biker in the forestry above Llantrisant.

Team members had the injured biker on a stretcher with a leg injury and carried them to the ambulance.

The rescue team’s training was interrupted yet again in the afternoon with a call from Dyfed-Powys Police to assist two walkers who had gone off track, walking in the waterfalls area of Bannau Brycheiniog.

Upon locating the walkers, the team were surprised to see one of the walkers who was presented upside down. The walker had slipped and slid headfirst down a slope, coming to rest above a 20-foot vertical drop thanks to one of his feet becoming jammed between two tree trunks.

The first arriving team members quickly set up an abseiling system for one of the team members to access the person, make them safe with ropes and a harness, and then lower them safely below for an assessment of injuries to be made by Remote Rescue Medics.

Suspecting a possible ankle or lower leg injury, they treated it as a possible fracture with pain relief and splinting, then had a challenging stretcher carry out of the gorge through woodland and onto the main trails, then out to the vehicles’ rendezvous point. With the help of the National Park warden, transport of the casualty and their companion to hospital was arranged.

“A long day out and we send all casualties from Sunday our best wishes for speedy recoveries,” said a spokesperson for the rescue team.