Walking the line: search practices, environment, and the practice of care in mountain rescue work

Smith, Robin James ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7457-9690 2026. Walking the line: search practices, environment, and the practice of care in mountain rescue work. Bates, Charlotte and Jackson, Emma, eds. Walking: A Sociological Field Guide, Manchester: Manchester University Press, pp. 130-142. (10.7765/9781526184924.00021) Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

This essay brings the reader to the mountains of South Wales and walks with a party of volunteer mountain rescue workers as they search for other walkers who have lost their way. It describes the practices of the team as they search for missing persons in the dark and rain. The description highlights relations of movement, perception and environment, as the team ‘walk the line’ atop a mountain ridge. It demonstrates how we might think of the environment as accomplished and occasioned by practice. This is, then, organised walking – an active inquiry realised on the move. The essay also describes walking as essential to the enactment of care, both in locating the missing persons in the first place, but also in moving together, carefully, in bring them to safety. The essay is intended to provide some access to a specific instantiation of walking as a members’ method.

Item Type:	Book Section
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education)
Subjects:	G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > G Geography (General) H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
Publisher:	Manchester University Press
ISBN:	9781526184917
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	24 February 2025
Last Modified:	17 Aug 2026 14:47
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/176422

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