Stock Photo - Glencoe mountain rescue take part in a training exercise with a rescue stretcher at Lairig (mountain pass) in Glencoe, Scotland. Taking part in 60-80 rescue's a year all members are on 24 hour standby covering 3,600 square miles. All members of the team have full time jobs outside the rescue work. Words by Dean Murray Photography by Euan Cherry/Cover Images COPY The United Kingdom is experiencing snow and inclement weather this week, and conditions can be treacherous. In January, Cover Images photographer Euan Cherry joined a training exercise with the Glencoe Mountain Rescue Team, a volunteer group tasked with locating and rescuing people who need help, especially in extremely harsh and unforgiving conditions like we are experiencing. Glencoe MRT has provided a voluntary search and rescue emergency service since 1961. Operating from the rescue centre in Glencoe village, it is one of the busiest and the longest established mountain rescue teams in Scotland. With typically 60-70 call-outs every year, the team covers a wide geographical area from Rannoch Moor, to the Etive hills, to the Mamores and over into Morven and Ardnamurchan. Members are on 24 hour standby to cover this 3,600 square mile patch. The volunteers, experienced mountaineers with vast amounts of local knowledge, have full time jobs outside the rescue work and come from different walks of life. The team Euan observed taking part in a training exercise at Lairig, a mountain pass through Glencoe, included a world rugby medical educator, a hotelier, two builders and a professional guide. The job can see the rescuers put under extreme physical and mental stress: dealing with seriously injured people, or even the deceased, can be hard. There is also the ever present chance you will be pulled out of normal life to pull off hair-raising mountain rescues. Ed Daynes, 50, a hotelier, recalls one such incident where he was doing paperwork at his desk, but a short time later was dangling from a helicopter. He explains: ""It was just another afternoon in the office. It was time for a bit of pen pushing at the desk, time to tackle the VAT returns. And then the radio call comes for an injured walker on the Aonach Eagach. Not that long later I was being strop lifted beneath a Sea King 2500ft about the glen, as the helicopter tried to drop me close the casualty. ""The cloud was in on the ridge, so it looked like I'd be dropped 500ft down the side of the hillside and would have to climb up the rest into the cloud. As I was getting close to contact with the ground the helicopter pulled away from the hover and we flew out over the glen - on the end of the strop wire dangling beneath a helicopter. I had no idea what was happening, though did have my doubts. Hanging from a wire high above the glen is a bit more James Bond than it is boring afternoon doing the bookkeeping. We then flew back in towards the ridge and was dropped to within a fairly short distance of the casualty at the summit of the ridge. It turned out that the cloud had cleared during the initial winching, and the pilot decided that he would try and get us in closer - which he did. We packaged up the injured chap, got him into a stretcher, into the helicopter and away to hospital. We descended from the ridge, and I went back to the VAT return, like the last couple of hours hadn't happened. Good day at the office? Er... A bit surreal really. I've got a few like that. if you told people they wouldn't believe it."" Ewen Lawrie, 45, a builder who has been a member of the rescue team for around 8 years, explains: ""It is nice to be able to help people who are in often life threatening situations or to be able to return a loved one back to ther grieving family so that they can have some closure. When the weather is poor and the aircraft can't get to casualties we know that we are the only chance these people have, there is nobody else. There are many incidents that stick in my memory and I often think if the people involved had just stepped a few inches one way or skied a different slope, perhaps chosen to paddle a different stretch of water, how the outcome would have been so different. I don't really think of any callout as a nuisance, because no matter how trivial things may seem to you or I, to the person calling for help it may be the worst situation they have ever been in."" David Hanna, 63, says: ""I was an outdoor pursuit instructor, mainly teaching winter mountaineering in winter and yachting in the summer, but I find myself working less and less. All my adult life I have spent a lot of time on the mountains and at sea, both for work and pleasure. We don't call ourselves guides in the rescue team. I have been in the team for about 25 years now and have always looked upon it as a part of mountaineering; my hobby and my job. Hence, there is never an issue with going on a rescue. It's very rare that folk have been stupid when things go wrong and none of us would ever criticise them."" Ian McConnell, 55, is a World Rugby Medical Educator and has been a full member of the team since 2003. He says: ""We see ourselves as hillwalkers/climbers first and rescuers second. Most of us have all been rescued ourselves so that gives us a lot of empathy to the victims as most of us have been there ourselves and made the same mistakes."" ENDS Featuring: David Hannah a guide, Ian McConnell a world rugby medical educator, Brian Bathhurst a self employed builder, Ewan Lawrie a builder, and Ed Daynes a hotelier Where: Glencoe, Scotland, United Kingdom When: 20 Jan 2018 Credit: Euan Cherry/COVER Images