You might have seen mention in our recent podcast that Joe Cornish had an accident on Cul Mor recently. While descending after co-leading a workshop with Alex Nail, an eddy gust knocked him over, and he tumbled 10m down the hill. Mountain rescue was called, and a search and rescue helicopter airlifted him to the hospital in Inverness. Cracked cervical vertebrae meant a brace and rest for a few days, but he was out with a camera shortly after.

Since then, Alex and Joe announced a print sale fundraiser for Assynt MRT, which we were going to mention here, but it sold out within a few hours, raising over £20,000, one of the team’s biggest donations.

It’s reiterated to me how amazing our Mountain Rescue Teams in the UK are. Like lifeboat staff, they’re wholly voluntary, but unlike many lifeboat stations, some teams receive very little funding. The Assynt team covers one of the biggest areas, four times the size of the Skye, but it only has 36 members.

And it’s not just mountaineers, Munroists or climbers that need rescuing; casual walkers or photographers often get lower limb injuries and can’t walk back on rough terrain and need help, and MRTs get called for any ‘rough terrain’ medical recoveries.

We’re going to write a little article on the role that Mountain Rescue or Search and Rescue plays as a safety net for when photographers are spending time in the landscape, so we’d love to know about anyone who has had to call them as part of their landscape photography adventures.

Joe is back hosting our podcast next week, where we’ll be talking with Matt Payne, so if you have any questions that you’d like us to ask Matt - please send them to [email protected].

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