Solving tensions within Technical Rescue in England and Wales

In all of the 48 independent charities that constitute Mountain Rescue in England and Wales there are a number of clearly delineated professions, such as medicine, as well as a host of less clearly defined but well established communities of practice, such as those that form around climbing and technical rescue. That these groups all come together within Mountain Rescue (MR) to produce an effective rescue on the hill, come rain or shine, on a voluntary (pro bono) basis is something they share, but these different groups do not share the same status and neither do they operate in the same ways. In this paper I investigate those differences and discuss ways in which we may better utilise the learning of the aforementioned communities of practice in order to increase the effectiveness of MR in England and Wales.