Fellwalking

This woman slipped and fractured her ankle while descending a steep footpath.

This woman slipped and fractured her ankle while descending a steep footpath.

A number of reports of shouts for help and flashing lights were heard and seen in this area. We searched across some very rough ground and found nothing. Who ever had been there had either sorted themselves out, or had never actually been in too much trouble. Still, it kept us occupied for a couple of hours.

An 11 year old boy slipped and tumbled 80ft. down a steep hillside, sustaining serious cuts, bruises and leg injuries. His condition was stabilised and he was taken to hospital in Kendal.

This young man collapsed, probably due to dehydration, and was in a very confused state. The Ambulance attended first but was unable to evacuate the man, so they called us to help. The local farmer very generously took some of our kit up in his Quad, trailer, saving us time and effort.

A 34 year old woman with a history of mental problems "took off" over the summit of Loughrigg, without warning, leaving her 75 year old mother behind. A search was organised. She was located back at her hotel in Ambleside.

Three men strayed off the path on the ascent of Red Screes and became cragfast at the bottom of Kilnshaw Chimney. They raised the alarm by shouting for help. We escorted them off.

These three men became lost between Grasmere and Langdale, so phoned 999 on a mobile phone and asked for guidance off the fells. This we gave, but they seemed unable to follow instructions and kept going in the wrong direction. A search was made involving 40 people and 12 SARDA dogs. They were eventually located descending behind the New Dungeon Ghyll Hotel. Sometimes we're just left to wonder.

This man had become separated from his friend at 11.45 in thick mist and had not arrived back at their rendesvous in Ambleside. We searched the area and he was located in Ambleside after coming off the hill in Patterdale and making his way back by road.

This man fell and sustained serious head and back injuries. When we arrived at the reported scene we found nothing. A bit of detective work located them a bit lower down, the injured man being "walked" down by his friends. Although well intentioned, this is not a very safe method of evacuating a barely conscious man with unknown neck and back injuries.

This woman slipped near the summit of Dollywagon Pike and badly fractured her collar bone. She was treated at the scene and airlifted to Furness Hospital by RAF Boulmer.

A 23 year old woman slipped and sustained a possible fractured ankle. She was splinted and carried off the Fell.

A 17 year old girl, part of a Duke of Edinburgh Gold training expedition from Berkshire, was reported as unconscious, near the summit of Hart Crag. Ourselves, RAF teeming MRT, and a helicopter rushed to the scene to find nothing wrong with anyone. It is highly unlikely that there ever was anything wrong with anyone. The supervisors didn't seem unduly bothered that we had wasted our time, money, and resources, to be the victims of a practical joke! It does not help the case for free Mountain Rescue and no charge for helicopters when this sort of thing happens.

A 15 year old boy had collapsed, exhausted on day one of his D. of E. Gold award. Although the group appeared to be ill-prepared and badly equipped they handled the problem very well. The three who went for help gave accurate information and the one who remained behind with the casualty had him well rugged up against the cold and had kept him in excellent spirits. He was declared a star by Team members at the scene for his handling of the situation.

These two men were reported as overdue at their B&B in Wasdale. They were experienced and well equipped and turned up as a search was being organised. They had spent the night on the fells and walked off as it became light.

At last something different! Not even in our area! A young man collapsed with severe abdominal pain and hypothermia. Because it was a Grasmere phone number reporting this incident it went through to Kendal Police Control, who paged us. It is actually in Keswick MRT's area. We attended, and found the other classic case we come up against: the "child crushing rucsac". We removed the rucsac and retrieved the boy and took him to hospital. There endeth another D. of E. Gold Expedition.

Male, middling footwear, rest as above.

But so soon! This time a woman, in good footwear, but the rest of the story is the same.

Male, dodgy footwear, wet ground, slip, crack, floppy foot, morphine, kind words, swear words, splint, stretcher, cruel jokes, ambulance, hospital, you've heard the story before, you'll hear it again.

This 49 year old woman slipped and sustained a possible ankle fracture. She was splinted and evacuated to hospital. They're fickle things, ankles you know. If they're so fragile, why stick them out there at the end of your leg? All exposed to the elements and rough ground and dodgy foot-wear decisions. They'd be far better tucked inside a pair of slippers, next to the dog, in front of the fire where they're safe from harm. Except for athletes foot, warts, verrucas, ingrown toenails, gout, gangrene...

Two Team members came across a man with a suspected broken ankle whilst working for the National Trust in Mickleden. They splinted his leg with equipment from our Langdale Base and transported him to a car for the journey to hospital.

Requested to assist Patterdale MRT with the evacuation of a 13 year old boy from the summit of Hart Crag, into the Rydal Valley. Taken to Ambleside Health Centre and then to Westmorland General Hospital.

Two Landrovers went to assist an ambulance stuck in snow with a sick young boy on board. They towed it out of the snow and escorted it back to the road.

This 71 year old woman slipped on a steep fellside and sustained a serious ankle fracture. She was treated at the scene and stretchered to a waiting ambulance.

This man slipped and fell 200ft. and landed on his head causing serious injury. He was treated on scene and evacuated to hospital at Barrow by RAF Boulmer. He had an ice axe, but it was attached to his rucsac, where it doesn't work anywhere near as well. The injuries were to his head and neck.

At 3pm this 40 year old woman slipped and fractured her ankle. Her husband had to descend to Cockley Beck with two children to raise the alarm. In places, he had to lower them down icy stretches on a rope. A 16 year old girl remained with the woman. This descent took 6 hours due to the conditions and the lack of equipment. The Team then took a couple of hours to locate the woman, finding her at around midnight. She was treated for her ankle and both woman and daughter were treated for hypothermia. Kendal and Furness MRTs helped out on this epic. The evacuation took 7 hours.

A small search was organised when this 12 year old girl ran off from her parents following a "disagreement". She was located after one and a half hours, unharmed.

Imagine our delight to be attending a "Mountain Rescue" again after our recent identity crisis. I suspect this 52 year old woman was less pleased when she slipped and broke her ankle.

A man reported himself lost somewhere on Crinle Crags. We had great difficulty getting back to him on his Italian mobile phone, but eventually managed to speak to him. He was using the GPS on the same phone and was unable to operate the GPS and phone simultaneously. He convinced us he was near the southern end of the Crags, but an extensive search failed to locate him. Having exhausted all reasonable possibilities, using 3 mountain rscue teams and 5 search dogs, we eventually had to call the search of, with him still unlocated.

A man slipped over a small crag and fractured his tibia and fibula when he landed. We administered pain relief and splinted his leg. He was flown to Whitehaven by a helicopter from RAF Boulmer that was in the area.