Middlefell Buttress

Incident Report #39 1998

A 45-year-old local man fell 40 ft from the third pitch of this route. He sustained a pneumothorax, surgical emphysema, multiple broken ribs, a bruised heart and a flail chest segment( and a small cut to his leg!). He was treated on scene and evacuated by helicopter to Furness General Hospital. He was in a very serious condition and required paralysing and ventilating in intensive care for several days.
Incident Type

Incident Report #29 1974

Male (25), of Middlesex, fell twenty feet while leading last pitch on Middle Fell Buttress, Langdale. He received a broken ankle, shock and slight exposure. The team lowered him on a stretcher 120 feet and then a further 200 feet down a steep gulley and then he was taken to the County Hospital, Kendal.
Footnote: Footwear and clothing were only fair. This rescue was carried out in the dark.
Weather conditions: Raining, with low mist.

Incident Type

Incident Report #6 1974

Male (30) from Nottingham, whilst preparing to climb, was hit by a loose rock from above, dislodged by another climber on Middle Fell Buttress, Langdale. He received head, neck and shoulder injuries. The team conveyed him down the fell assisted by the South Ribble team, and he was taken to the County Hospital, Kendal.
Footnote; This rock climber had not even started his climb and was sorting his gear out when the rock hit him. He had no helmet on at the time, but the climber who dislodged the rock had no connection with this man.

Incident Type

Incident Report #87 2004

A couple of 19-year-old climbers from Ambleside became stuck when they got to the top of Middlefell Buttress without torches after 4pm. They were unable to locate the way down. Their shouts for help were heard in the valley bottom. They were assisted by a number of other people in the area, who supplied them with torches, and we escorted them down.

Incident Type