Schoolboy becomes one of the youngest mountain rescuers in Scotland

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A schoolboy who climbed Kilimanjaro when he was just 16 has become one of the youngest mountain rescuers in the country.Matthew Knapman, 17, scaled the highest mountain in Africa last year and last week, he was called into action for the first time as part of the Assynt Mountain Rescue Team.The team consists of 35 volunteers covering the whole of Caithness, Sutherland and part of Ross-shire.Matthew helped an 83-year-old struggling walker down from the mountainside in the Inverkirkaig Falls area last Sunday.

This was followed up on Wednesday when he helped conduct a search at John O’Groats for a missing person.Matthew, who is in sixth year at Inverness Royal Academy, said: “I’m lucky being able to respond to callouts while balancing school but that will change in the next few weeks with my pending exams.“School have been supportive of me joining the team and understand that I have to balance my education with the callout requests.

I climbed Mount Kilimanjaro when I was 16."He added: “The team is a great family for supporting each other, getting outdoors and helping those in need when they’re having a really bad day.”Rescue team leader Tim Hamlet, said: “It’s great Matthew can apply his skills in real-time situations.” Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here .