The Carnedds are a high mountain mass: four great ridges radiating from the highest point: Carnedd Llewelyn, 3,484 feet. These ridges vary from broken and ragged crests to rounded whale-backs. The latter predominate, and the massif is peculiarly featureless. It seldom drops below three thousand feet and for most of the time, in winter, is swept by gales or blanked out in cloud. Many experienced climbers, confident on Snowdon or the Glyders (where paths, worn white by nailed boots, mark the rocky ridges), have come down the wrong side of the Carnedds where all ways look the same.

It was thought that the Anson was on either the north or the south-west ridge. These form the backbone of the range; they are wide and high and, under their convex upper slopes, hidden cliffs drop for hundreds of feet into the lonely cwms.

Somewhere above these cliffs were two men, inadequately clothed, shocked, perhaps injured, in no condition to withstand the weather at that altitude in December.

On the day of the crash the team searched Llewelyn and its neighbour, Foel Grach, until eleven at night but they found no sign of the Anson. During the night the weather deteriorated and the gravity of the situation increased accordingly. The missing men must be reached quickly but no one knew where they were. One of the most frustrating aspects of a rescue operation is this occasional inability of the survivors, through shock or inexperience, to pin-point the site of the accident.

It was thought that the Anson was on either the north or the south-west ridge. These form the backbone of the range; they are wide and high and, under their convex upper slopes, hidden cliffs drop for hundreds of feet into the lonely cwms.

Somewhere above these cliffs were two men, inadequately clothed, shocked, perhaps injured, in no condition to withstand the weather at that altitude in December.

On the day of the crash the team searched Llewelyn and its neighbour, Foel Grach, until eleven at night but they found no sign of the Anson. During the night the weather deteriorated and the gravity of the situation increased accordingly. The missing men must be reached quickly but no one knew where they were. One of the most frustrating aspects of a rescue operation is this occasional inability of the survivors, through shock or inexperience, to pin-point the site of the accident.

The search recommenced at first light on the second day. The team went to Carnedd Dafydd on the south-west ridge, and while they were there, a third survivor of the crash made his way down to Bethesda unassisted. His story was more lucid than that of the other two, and after hearing it, the authorities decided to return to Foel Grach which had been searched the previous day, but to approach from the east, from the Conway Valley.

They searched all day without success and at 4.30 p.m. a small party halted round about the cloud-line and stood conferring, trying to make up their minds to go down. Dusk was approaching and it was hopeless to continue the search under such conditions. Then, for a moment, the mist lifted and they saw the aircraft on the ground only a short distance away.

There was no sign of life as they approached. They entered the wreck and in the rear gun turret, wrapped in parachutes, they found the fourth man fast asleep. His foot was fractured and he was suffering from starvation and dehydration. The only drink they had with them was rum, but he was teetotal and felt obliged to refuse it.

By the end of 1943 Flying Training Command decided that the service provided by mountain rescue called for official status. Of the existing unofficial station units four, including Llandwrog, were designated Mountain Rescue teams. The work of the units was to be co-ordinated, special equipment supplied, and volunteers trained for membership. (Mountain rescue has always been run on a voluntary basis.) This was the start of the R.A.F. Mountain Rescue Service. Continue to page 3