Men had various reasons for joining mountain rescue: some thought it glamorous, some thought it would be fun, others joined out of curiosity. The best of these, for whatever purpose they had joined, stayed because they were caught up in something bigger than personal motives: pride perhaps, or compassion, or responsibility. They would have been as embarrassed at being forced to acknowledge their own motives as if they had been expected to discuss religion with a woman. It was these men who formed the bulk of the team: the lower three-quarters of the pyramid. Between them and the N.C.O. came a handful of men who formed the nucleus. Many of these last were climbers in civilian life so their reasons for joining were intrinsic to their climbing. They had a very good reason for not joining, for they would have climbed more often, far harder, and with more enjoyment had they not been out every weekend (and most Wednesday afternoons) training novices. For this reason some climbers kept away from the team, but those who were more responsible joined. Their own climbing suffered, but the standard of the team went up.

Vic Bray was one of the Valley nucleus: a tall, slim man with a face like a hawk and hair like wire. It was an unusual face-only the tan and the pale eyes were usual; all the men were tanned. he spoke with a delightful, slow, Dorset accent. Conscientious and tough, he was respected by the men, and being well-mannered and charming, he was most attractive to women.

As a mountaineer he was confident and good. By the mid-'50's he had a lot of experience and he had initiative. And, most important, he had considerable respect for the mountains. After many years with the Valley team he was persuaded to go on a Team Leader's course. He resigned soon after it started. He was too much of an individualist to be a team leader.

If Bray was out on a rescue Lees gave him the second hardest job, sometimes the hardest.

One of the first times they worked together was one cold night in March 1956 when the team were called out to rescue a group of people stranded on the Bribin ridge of Snowdon.

From the pass between Snowdon summit and Lliwedd- the Pass of the Arrows where King Arthur is reputed to have fought his last battle - a big black ridge runs down the crest, and on either side there is steep, broken ground, unpleasant in summer; under winter conditions highly dangerous, particularly for novices.

Two girls had been descending this crest in the afternoon when one had slipped. She didn't fall to the bottom but came to rest, with her arm fractured, on a ledge some distance below the crest and from which she couldn't escape. Somehow her friend climbed down the face and reached the Coppermines track in safety. After four miles' walking she came to the Pen y Gwryd Hotel where she found a young army officer and a girl on the staff who where willing to return with her. Back they went, up to Pen y Pass, along the Coppermines track and up the Gribin. They reached the casualty and then found that they were stuck themselves.

When the R.A.F. arrived at Llyn Llydaw, where the Coppermines track crosses the water by a causeway, they were met by the guise, Whay Continue to Page 2