About the team
AMRT was formed in 1964 from members of the then Adventure Club and interested local mountaineers. Its formation came at a time when mountain rescue in North East Scotland and elsewhere was less formally organised.
The Team are on call 24/7, 365 days a year and are a totally voluntary organisation. They are called out by Police Scotland to assist with search and rescue anywhere within their operational area. They could be searching for mountaineers, walkers, mountain bikers, skiers or anyone reported lost or injured in the mountains, or for missing people in and around Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire. Training takes place every Thursday night and one weekend in three throughout the year. AMRT has its base in Westhill, a facility which was financed by St John Scotland.
AMRT was formed in response to a growing awareness that there needed to be a more structured approach to the problem of organising search and rescue operations in the area of the Cairngorms and the lower hills of Deeside and Donside. Since 1964 the Team has developed into an organisation that offers a professional approach to mountain rescue and one which ensures that members of the Team are highly skilled as both mountaineers and mountain rescuers.
AMRT has the use of two bothies for training weekends and when on call outs. One is at the Spittal of Muick and one at Derry Lodge on the Mar Estate. The use of these bothies gives the Team a base close to their area of operation when called out to rescues in the Cairngorms.
Members of the Team come from a range of backgrounds, doctors, oil industry workers, teachers and so on. Each one of them shares a passion for the hills and mountaineering and a dedication to mountain rescue services. Training is rigorous and comprehensive, a necessity for each and every Team member to ensure complete readiness for operational duties. Every one of the Team members is a volunteer, they all have jobs, families and outside interests, giving their time freely makes them a very special bunch.
Shortly after the formation of AMRT, it was decided that a parent body should be established to assist in providing funds and support for the Team. Since its establishment in 1966, Aberdeen Mountain Rescue Association has developed very close links with the Team, and indeed a number of Team members sat on the Association’s Executive Committee. In the mid 1990s The Association agreed to change its name to the Aberdeen and St John Mountain Rescue Association in recognition of the support which the Association and the Team had received locally from the Order of St John.
Recent events have seen the Team and Association become a SCIO (Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation), jointly known as Aberdeen Mountain Rescue Team. The former Association members will continue their role of fundraising to support the Team. As with the members of AMRT, the support members are a voluntary committee who also have a connection to the hills and mountain rescue, but for one reason or another are not able to be part of the Team. They raise the necessary funds each year, approx £40K, to enable the Team to remain operational.
AMRT continue to be the best that they can be at what they do. There is a unique combination of ‘older’ members of the Team who bring with them a wealth of experience and the ‘younger’ ones who are just coming into the Team or have only been involved for a few years. This mixture of knowledge and enthusiasm will ensure that AMRT continue to be a dedicated, exceptional collection of people who will give their utmost to ensure that if required, they are ready to help anyone who needs them.
