Gt Langdale

Six students from Sussex became cragfast after being caught halfway up a very wet 'Great Gully' with only one torch between them. A late start, combined with lack of experience may have played a part. Six hours later we went home.

A group of six got stuck on Crinkle Crags when they couldn't find Three Tarns, and then in retracing their steps to the Bad Step, couldn't descend it or find their way around it. They were told to stay at the top of the Bad Step and team members recovered them from there. A group of two had been successfully 'talked' off Crinkle Crag earlier in the day. It remains a frustration that people are going in to the hills without the full set off skills to get them up and back DOWN, or the ability to make good judgement calls and avoid trouble.

Five people observed a light near the waterfall. After it hadn't moved an hour later, they called the Police. A search turned nothing up.

A 28 year old local man fell 100ft while leading a rock climb. He landed in a tree, sustaining mulitple injuries, including serious head injuries. His helmet probably saved his life. His second recieved nasty rope burns to her hand and arm. The Sun newspaper carried photos and diagrams of this one.

This 39 year old man sustained serious head injuries when he slipped whilst scrambling on wet rocks.

Having just got down one hill, we had to drive around and run up another one and retrieve a 17 year old boy who had collapsed from an unknown condition. He may have 'given up'.

A 53 year old woman with a broken ankle.

A 15 year old boy fractured his left ankle after a slip.

Smooth soled shoes may have contributed to the slip that broke this 39 year ld lady's left ankle. Her friend was escorted off a very wet spillery hillside in similar footwear.

This 21 year old man had not been seen since 2pm by his friends. It was rumoured that he had badly blistered feet and was not wearing his spectacles, and therefore would have not gone too far. He turned up at 1am outside a hotel, 20 miles away! Once again, I leave you to draw your own conclusions.

A 16 year old girl slipped and fractured her ankle. Her friends carried her some of the way, leaving us the last, easy, two mile, downhill stretch.

The team was called to assist the ambulance crew in evacuating a 62 year old woman with an ankle fracture down a steep bank to the roadside.

A young girl on an ATC expedition was hit on the head when a stone fell off a cairn. When the team arrived, in addition to the head injuries, all five were suffering from hypothermia. All five had to be stretchered off the fell.

A 26 year old woman fell onto a section of shed she was carrying, sustaining a puncture wound to her knee. She continued to work for 4 1/2 hours, until the pain became too much. The N.T. supervisor (and team member) on scene summoned the team using M.R. radio.

A couple reported seeing flashing lights on Raven Crag. A search revealed nothing in the area, however lights were seen in another area. This turned out to be 8 members of a D of E group struggling down in the dark. They were escorted to the National Trust campsite in Great Langdale, where they spent the night.

This 13 year old boy attempted to catch us out by doing himself a mischief before lunch. he sustained injuries to his back, legs and pelvis. We sorted him out before our sandwiches had gone curly.

A 71 year old man slipped and fell 20ft into the ghyll sustaining mulitiple lacerations and a thorough wetting. His companion's quick action in removing him from the water and changing him into dry clothes avoided further complications.

A 17 year old girl slipped and went 'head over heels' sustaining head and facial injuries. With the assiatsnce manpower fro RAF Stafford and a Helicopter from RAF Leeming she was 'rescued'.

Two male climbers were reported missing after climbing on Gimmer Crag. they were located making their own way down Mill Ghyll, without torches.

Our glorious leader informed us that it would be a 'quick' job to evacuate a 45 year old gentleman. He'd slipped on steep fellside and sustained back injuries. Three and a half hours later we all got to go home again.

A 25 year old woman collapsed with heat exhaustion near the summit of Crinkle Crags. She was stretchered off, and her compainions were escorted off the fell. Although the brand used was unknown, the woman's eye make-up remained un-smudged during her ordeal.

A young man, climbing a steep rock pitch n the ghyll, fell some 50ft as he tried to place a runner. His friend and belayer very kindly broke his fall. Both sustained nasty head, back and leg injuries and multiple cuts. Both were wearing helmets, one of which was badly damaged. They were stretchered out of the ghyll and then were flown to hospital by RAF Bolumer. Their lives were probably saved by their helmets.

A 61 year old man slipped while descending the Band and fractured his wrist.

A 50 year old man sustained a fractured tib. and fib. when he slipped on the Climbers Traverse. He was treated and stretchered down with the help of Kendal MRT.

A 37 year old Canadian woman ruined her planned trip to the Alps when she tripped and fractured her ankle. We treated her and a passing helicopter took her to hospital.

(Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday dear.. Oh! Never mind.) A man slipped and fractured his ankle. A passing helicopter picked him up before we broke into a sweat, so we went home again.

Called to assist the ambulance crew with a 20 year old man who had been practising a hard route in the quarry. He had completed it several times when the 'in-situ' tape sling broke, dropping him 25ft. to the ground. He fractured both wrists, his ankle, and sustained head and spinal injuries. NEVER RELY ON IN-SITU GEAR, REPLACE IT WHEN EVER POSSIBLE, WITH YOUR OWN. Close examination of this bit of sling revealed green mould on the side facing the rock, and the colour bleached out of teh other side by thje weather.

The moral of this story is, that if you tell someone that you are stuck in a particular place, and you turn out to be somewhere else, it delays the rescue process enormously.Two men used a mobile phone to alert us of their plight. They were stuck in a snow gully on Eagle Crag, and felt unable to get themselves out. They had no ice axes or crampons. However, when we went to Eagle Crag, climbed all the gullies and scoured the top and bottom of the crag, we realised they weren't there. The weather conditions were deteriorating and from the continued phone conversation, so was theirs.

A 13 year old girl became separated from her parents on steep and dangerous terrain. A search was mounted, but she made her own way off the hill. A one way discussion on parental responsibility ensued.

Two brothers, one 23 and one 14, were crossing frozen snow on the Climbers Traverse below Bowfell summit when the young one became "frozen" by his situation. His brother told him to stay put while he went for help, and promptly slipped and slid 120 feet, coming to rest with severe leg lacerations and multiple cuts and bruises. He was found on the Rossett Ghyll path by walkers, who raised the alarm. After treatment at the scene he was helicoptered to hospital, and his brother was retrieved from the Climbers Traverse and dropped off in the valley.