Exploring the hidden worlds beneath our feet is growing in popularity and few places offer more opportunities than North Wales. A legacy of the region’s mining past is the thousands of shafts, adits and openings that litter its above and below-ground landscapes. For a team formed to retrieve lost and injured cavers, this complex subterranean network poses problems.
The North Wales Cave Rescue Organisation (NWCRO) covers an area with thousands of cave and mine entrances and knowing where they are can be a matter of life and death. Until recently, these entrances had never been properly mapped and many were a complete mystery. After years of studying map data, this shortcoming has finally been overcome by an NWCRO member who happens to be a geospatial expert.
READ MORE: 'Hatred for English in North Wales astounding,' walkers claim READ MORE: Famous North Wales beauty shows ugly side during night of supermoon Dr Edward Lockhart has produced a comprehensive map of North Wales that not only catalogues mine entrances, it includes rendezvous points for rescue efforts as well. “Before this, nobody really knew where all of the underground entrances were,” he said. “But now we know exactly.
” Edward, a Bangor University PhD graduate, is a passionate caver who uses his geospatial expertise to help NWCRO’s volunteers conduct search and rescue operations underground. Typically they undertake fewer than 10 rescues each year but often these are lengthy affairs due to their comple.