Fellwalking

A 76-year-old man was reported overdue from a walk in the Grasmere area. A search was organised, and team members and search dog handlers were being deployed when we were informed that he had managed to make his way into Langdale via a steep, unidentified gulley, and was now safe at the roadside. The man was reported to have a medical condition that gave us cause for concern, and the weather had been hot and dry all day. Eight search dogs were involved.

An 80-year-old woman collapsed due to heat exhaustion. She was looked after by passersby initially, who gave her drinks, then treated by team members, and evacuated to the valley floor. A helicopter that had been requested to assist was stood down en-route, when she wasn't as ill as first thought.

A 65-year-old man sustained a knee injury while walking with his family. He was treated and stretchered off by team members.

Requested to assist the ambulance service with evacuating a casualty from Brant Fell.

A woman slipped while walking with her family, and sustained a suspected lower leg fracture. She was treated by team members and then evacuated to the valley for onward transport to hospital.

A 60-year-old male, walking with friends and work colleagues suffered a suspected heart attack. The team attended, but sadly the man had died. His body was recovered to Ambleside.

We were requested by Keswick MRT to open our base to provide communication with a group of their team members who were evacuating a casualty down Far Easedale. Transport was also provided, but not required.

We were requested by Keswick MRT with recovering a party of 3 in the Esk Hause area. We were stood down when they were located and the decision was taken to evacuate them via Borrowdale.

A 69-year-old male member of an American walking party sustained a sprained ankle. The party had made a good attempt to get themselves off, but eventually the pain became too much. He was treated by team members and evacuated to the valley for onward transport to hospital. There was some initial confusion, since the informant gave a misleading location.

A couple became separated during their walk. Male reported missing. Turned up during initial enquiry stage

More of the same. A party of two became disorientated on Crinkle Crags, having descended part-way down the west side, and then struggling to find the summit ridge path. Given instructions and advise to help locate Three Tarns. They eventually met up with another group, who were a little more certain where they were, and more importantly, knew the way off!

A group of 5 became split in poor weather when they separated in to two parts; one to go over the Bad Step and the other to go round. They failed to re-unite on Long Top. One group phoned the police for assistance. They were given directions and instructions to head for Three Tarns, were they managed to meet the rest of their party. Possession of a GPS was of limited use in these circumstances, because the party were only able to use it to tell us where they were, and not able to use it to get to where they wanted to be. The same applied to the map and compass they were carrying.

A 62-year-old woman suffered a suspected lower leg fracture when she slipped on the path while descending. She was treated by team members and stretchered off the hill.

A couple of team members went up Far Easedale in a vehicle to check on the man reported with a head injury. He was located making his way down. He was assessed and given basic treatment before continuing on his way, having declined any further assistance.

A man sustained a lower leg injury when he slipped while descending. He was treated and evacuated from the hill. While assembling at the rendezvous point for this rescue a passerby reported another man, making his way slowly from Far Easedale, with a head injury. Kitt's first rescue as a qualified Search Dog. No one had the heart to tell her that we knew where he was!

Another hour spent trying to locate two people overdue from the Esk Pike region. They were eventually located, again having made their way safely off the hill a little later than planned.

We were made aware of a group of 12 overdue by some 2 hours from a walk over Crinkle Crags. No action was taken at this stage, and further enquiries later found that they had made their way off safely.

Another woman was reported as having sustained an ankle injury on the descent from Stickle Ghyll. She was cared for by passersby, and then treated and evacuated to the valley floor for onward transport to hospital by ambulance.

A woman was reported as immobilised by an ankle injury. Unfortunately, their location was uncertain. A bit of detective work located them, and the injury was treated. Before we could evacuate the casualty, we were made aware of incident 42. The woman was evacuated by the team with help from team members arriving a little later, and a handful of team members who went across to help having concluded rescue 42.

A man walking the Coast to Coast with a small group suffered a lower leg injury. Some initial confusion over his location was cleared up, and we treated his injury. He was then evacuated by Royal Navy helicopter to West Cumberland Infirmary. We then set off with his walking partner to return to the valley. Unfortunately on the descent one of our team members sustained an ankle injury.

A couple reported themselves having difficulty finding their way of what they thought to be Great Rigg. They were given some directions and advice that should have led them in to the Rydal valley. We then lost touch with them, but had a reliable sighting of them in the Brotherswater Inn(!) later that evening. We eventually established that they had found their way off, and were safe.

A woman walking with her family suffered a recurrence of an old knee injury which meant she couldn't continue to walk. She was stretchered down to our vehicles and transferred to their own vehicle for onward transport to hospital.

A 12-year-old boy got separated from his mother, who reported him missing. A search was quickly organised. He was located and all were reunited.

An elderly man collapsed, and was unable to get up again.. The team attended, stretchered him back to our vehicle, and then returned him to his coach, for transport home. He declined any further medical attention.

A male was reported missing and with a possibility of him self-harming, there was cause for concern for his safety. A complicated and protracted search ensued, where it was possible that the man was evasive, avoiding action. After much discussion and negotiation he was persuaded to come off the hill and into the care of the police. We were assisted by local SARDA dogs, and a tracking dog and handler from Bowland Pennine MRT.

A family group of three went up to the Langdale Pikes area. They became lost after several attempts to find a way off. Although they had a map and compass and GPS, they were unable to use any. We were able to establish their altitude from the GPS, but it wasn't much use for anything else, since it wasn't set on British Grid. They were too cold and the process of setting the GPS up in any useful way was looking unlikely, so eventually located by the combined method getting them to take bearings to our vehicle lights in the valley bottom, and wonder-dog, Beinn.

A woman slipped and suffered a knee injury. She was treated by team members and evacuated to her own car for onward transport to hospital.

We had only just seen the previous casualty over the horizon when we were called to a woman who had sustained a suspected fractured lower leg. She was stretchered off the hill and taken to hospital in Lancaster.

A woman slipped and sustained a head injury and suspected fractured collar bone. She was treated by team members and evacuated by Great North Air Ambulance to Cumbria Infirmary, Carlisle.

A pair of elderly walkers became separated from their family group. The remainder of the group made it down, but the other two were reported overdue. We assisted Patterdale MRT and SARDA with a search for them. They were located fairly quickly on the Patterdale side of the hill.