On the eleventh of November, 2023, our son William Dennis Onion fell from Crib Goch.
He didn’t stand a chance.
The air ambulance arrived first, but it was Llanberis Mountain Rescue who made it to him. It was Llanberis who went up that mountain when others could not. It was Llanberis who brought William home to us.
They did not just save lives that day. They carried the weight of the ones they could not save. They looked after William’s friends when the unimaginable had happened. They comforted the traumatised, the injured, the grieving. They did what few could do. And they did it without hesitation.
Six people were on that ridge with William. Dan and Mollie risked their own lives trying to get to him. They were airlifted down alongside his body, and spent over four hours in the Llanberis team’s kitchen, waiting for the rest of the group to come down. That is how limited the facilities are. A church hall. A kitchen. No private space to grieve. No proper rooms for the traumatised or injured. But the care they received was extraordinary.
The rest of the group Kelly, Rebecca, and Sarah were still up on the ridge. They had seen William fall. They were in shock. Cold. Frozen in body and mind. A helicopter tried to reach them but could not land. So the Llanberis team climbed up. They winched them. Guided them. Roped them down step by step. All of this in the dark, on a knife-edge ridge, with the weather closing in. For four hours, they brought them back to safety.
All volunteers. All unpaid. All giving everything they had.
Until recently, we did not understand what that day really looked like. At the inquest, and later when we visited Llanberis to thank them, the full story came out. We hugged. We cried. So did they. Because they are not just mountain rescue, they are human beings. People like us. And every loss affects them too.
Every single time you enter a Pickles Prizes competition, you’re doing something extraordinary — you’re helping keep Llanberis Mountain Rescue running, ready, and able to save lives in the most remote and rugged corners of Snowdonia.
When you enter a prize draw, you’re not just in with a chance to win something awesome — you’re directly contributing to the running costs that make those rescues possible. Radios, ropes, helmets, fuel for the Land Rovers, GPS trackers, medical supplies — it all adds up. And unlike big charities, this team doesn’t have huge marketing budgets or fundraising departments. They rely on the generosity of people like you.
Your entry might be just a few pounds — but multiply that by a community of people who care, and suddenly you’ve got a lifeline. You’re part of a rescue before it even happens. You’re giving the team the tools they’ll use when someone’s loved one is waiting at the foot of the hill, hoping they make it down.
And in supporting Pickles Prizes, you’re also honouring the legacy of a man who cared deeply about these mountains, and the people who protect them.
So thank you — every entry counts. Every entry helps. And every entry makes you part of the story.
It costs over one hundred and thirty thousand pounds a year to run Llanberis Mountain Rescue. The Welsh Government gives all mountain rescue teams just three and a half thousand pounds between them. That is it.
The rest? Donations. Kindness. The people who care enough to give.
They are currently operating out of a church hall. They need better. They deserve better. Rooms for the rescued. Space for relatives. Equipment that is fit for the terrain. Offices that do not double as kitchens. They are the busiest mountain rescue team in the United Kingdom, and they are working with what little they have.
This is why we created Pickles Prizes.
To honour them. To support them. To raise the money they so desperately need, not just to help others like William, but to help the ones who come for them. Always.
Every ticket goes toward the future of Llanberis Mountain Rescue. A team who climbed toward danger when others were climbing down. A team who held our broken family in their hands. A team who will one day come for someone else’s son or daughter.
Enter today. For William. For them. For the next person who needs saving.
Win awesome rewards with Pickles Prizes! Enter now for incredible watches the latest gear, gadgets, and much more, while supporting Coach William’s cherished causes!
