Scottish Mountain Rescue Annual Statistics Review 2024

Scottish Mountain Rescue Annual Statistics Review 2024

Last year Scottish Mountain Rescue (SMR) Member Teams responded to a record breaking 1,000 call-outs including ‘continuations’, linked call-outs over several days. Mountain Rescue team members gave up 29,986 hours of their time responding to call-outs alone and helped 740 people. 

Scottish Mountain Rescue has released its Annual Statistics Report for 2024. This report covers everything pertaining to the work of Scottish Mountain Rescue from numbers of rescues to locations and types of injuries. 

Some additional facts from 2024 include:  

•  Slips and trips remain the leading cause of mountaineering incidents with 95 incidents involving a slip or trip 
• Most mountaineering incidents (142) were recorded as occurring in fine weather 

• There were 57 mountaineering incidents that occurred during the hours of darkness 

• The terrain that recorded the highest number of incidents was a path, with 113 incidents recorded as occurring on a path 

• 27% of people assisted in a mountaineering incident had an ankle injury 

• The most frequently rescued age category was 26-35 years although this may simply reflect the fact that certain age groups go out onto the hill more frequently than others 

• As for previous years, Saturday and Sunday are the busiest days 

• The busiest period for teams tends to be during the Summer, with May being the busiest month in 2024 with 51 incidents 

• Teams were engaged with 301 incidents supporting the community 

• 19 incidents lasted more than one day! 

• 17 animals were rescued in 2024 

This report for 2024 is compiled from information received from the 25 civilian member teams as well as three Police Scotland Mountain Rescue Teams (MRT’s) that were members of Scottish Mountain Rescue for the entire year of 2024. One civilian and one Police Scotland MRT joined Scottish Mountain Rescue over the course of 2024 and their data will be reported from 2025 onwards.  

You can view the full Annual Statistics Report for 2024 here