IT WAS an eventful afternoon shift for the crew of Longtown Mountain Rescue yesterday (Sunday).
At lunchtime, they were called out to the Sugar Loaf, near Abergavenny, where a hiker had suffered a suspected broken ankle near the top of the mountain.
In worsening weather conditions, a small group of rescuers reached the injured woman quickly, giving her first aid and making sure she stayed warm to avoid hypothermia.
At this point, it became clear the crew would need to stretcher the woman off the 596-metre high Sugar Loaf, which looms over Abergavenny.
More rescuers joined the team near the summit, and after the injured woman had been given some pain relief they stretchered her to the main car park, where she was handed over to paramedics from the Welsh Ambulance Service.
The mountain rescue team thanked the members of the public on the mountain who had stayed with the injured woman and kept her warm until the rescuers' arrival.
Then, almost immediately after handing the injured walker over to the paramedics, the team was called out to another emergency involving an injured climber at Wyndcliffe Quarry, near Tintern.
In all, 22 rescuers were scrambled and began making their way to the quarry, but before they arrived a coast guard helicopter crew was able to reach the injured man, who was taken to hospital.
Longtown Mountain Rescue wished both injured people a speedy recovery.
The incidents are the latest in what has been a busy time for the rescuers, who have been called out to five emergencies since Christmas Day.
On January 2, the team was called out to another brace of incidents, at Offa's Dyke and again at the Sugar Loaf.
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