Incident Report #26 1999

Two men on a sponsored walk were reported overdue. They were amongst 20 or so unaccounted for, but for some reason were causing the organisers concern, when the others weren't. We found them after a brief search. We went home quickly before the status of any of the others changed. The organisers had a great plan in place with respect to emergencies, but like all plans they work really well until you introduce people into them! Mountain Rescue Teams in the Lake District share a common dislike for sponsored events on the hills. They bring inexperienced and badly equipped people into the hills who would not come otherwise, and although they raise money for very worthy charities, they cost our own very worthy charities a fortune in time and money.