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Killin Mountain Rescue Team
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| The team on display at the Killin Highland Games. |
Before embarking on our rescue teams history I would like first of all to give a little insight into mountain rescue in Scotland in general.
Most teams, ours included started of as local policeman assisted by in most cases, local shepherds, gamekeeper’s Gilles etc and other men who would probably have worked in the area or on the estate or farm that the incident had occurred. Some would have been made special constables specifically for the task of rescues. Then as now the "local" men who knew their ground intimately in any condition were much relied upon to lead the less familiar to the whereabouts off a casualty or to advise or help organise searches. It is perhaps worth reminding that in days past, and it is not all that many years ago that when rescuers were out, probably at night in winter, in lousy conditions and by today’s standards ill equipped.
Not for them the benefits of breathable Gore-Tex jackets and waterproof trousers, insulated alpine quality winter boots, 12 point crampons, and ice axes, proper head torches satellite navigation and above all radio communications.
Instead it would probably have been the waterproofs they wore at work, leather hobnailed boots or wellies (no crampons), a shepherds crook or if they were lucky an old walking axe, a hand torch (not ideal when wandering around a steep icy hillside) and certainly not any radio communications.
It is arguable that the advent of radios for use in rescues, has been the one outstanding feature in enabling the smooth co-ordinated efforts of search, rescue and casualty evacuation to take place. That and the increased use of military search and rescue helicopters being deployed for mountain search and rescue have proved invaluable. Also in the past few years’ mobile phones have, despite initial misgivings about being used inappropriately have been proving their worth in the rescue scenario. This is generally due to the considerable saving of time in the organising and implementation of a rescue. In general terms this means that the casualty is evacuated from the mountain to the nearest hospital in considerably less time than if he/she relied upon a companion to summon help.
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| Team members during a exercise. | A Royal Navy Helicopter with Ben Lawers in the background. |
Killin Mountain Rescue Team, was initially formed in 1966 by Perth and Kinross Constabulary. This was done under the guidance of Sgt. Andrew Comrie. The local Police had identified the need for a Mountain Rescue service in the Killin /Crianlarich area and enlisted local gamekeepers and farmers as special constables to assist them in Mountain Rescues. It is of interest that such a service is recorded in our area as far back as 1874.
On the third of January 1874 Daniel Bower Mitchell, a Dundee businessman, slipped and fell to his death on Ben More near Crianlarich, on a winter ascent of the mountain. Local shepherds locating the body using their sheep dogs carried out the search. No stretcher was available in these times with a ladder being used for the recovery of the deceased. This incident is marked by the erection of an iron cross on the north side of the mountain.
The formalisation of the team in 1966 which had 8 members, all special constables, allowed a small store and a McInnes MK1 stretcher to be located at Killin with a mountain rescue post at Crianlarich.
In the sixties and early seventies the increase in popularity of walking and climbing throughout the country in general brought with it more demands on what was a limited rescue service. With this in mind, The team which was now reduced to two members, was reformed in 1975 by the late Sgt. Harry Lawrie, B.E.M., and Constable Bill Rose of Central Scotland Police based at Killin. A meeting in the Clachaig Hotel by the Falls of Dochart in Killin on a Sunday afternoon resulted in 30 people joining the team, still mainly, but not all shepherds and farmers from the Killin/Crianlarich and Lochearnhead areas. In 1981 considerable interest from the Callander area resulted in the team membership increasing to about 50 with a store and mountain rescue post being established at Callander Police Office. The team today provides Mountain Rescue cover for the mountainous areas of Stirling Council between Callander and Tyndrum.
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