Fellwalking

A party of four were caught out by darkness, with no torches. One made his way down, and raised the alarm. The others were located staggering down Mickleden.

A 17 year girl was reported as unconscious in a tent in this remote spot. Team members were flown to the scene and found the party in question. They were evacuated to Ambleside. When you've driven from the south of England, arrived mid-afternoon, backpacked several miles, put tents up at midnight and gone to sleep, it's amazing how "unconscious" you can appear when someone tries to wake you at 2a.m.

A 39 year old man sustained a suspected fractured ankle and minor spinal injuries when he slipped on a path. We splinted him and carried him off.

A man had his foot crushed when he tried to stop a rock from falling on his wife. He was given medical treatment and helicoptered to Barrow by RAF Boulmer

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.

A 71 year old retired Doctor slipped and sustained head and arm injuries. We stretchered him off the fell and packed him off to Kendal hospital.

A young man collapsed on the fell. He recovered and was walked back down again. It may have been easier for his teachers if he'd told them about his vertigo.

A 39 year old woman slipped and fractured her ankle. This went down like a lead balloon with her family, who were on the first day of their walking holiday. Never mind, it's someone to stay in and write the postcards.

A 79 year old man slipped and sustain serious knee injuries. He was treated and stretchered off the fell.

A 55 year old Australian woman slipped, in trainers, on wet ground and fractured her ankle. We sorted it. Our care recognises no boundaries.

A 47 year old man sustained an ankle injury and was airlifted to Ambleside by a passing helicopter. We spent more time rounding up his friends, who seemed to go "Walkabout", than we did treating his injuries.

(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.

While attending the previous incident we were called to assist a man who had collapsed with a suspected heart attack. Efforts by his friends, and then ourselves and RAF Leeming MRT failed to revive him. His body was carried down from the fell.

A 62 year old woman slipped on a wet path and fractured her lower leg. Her 64 year old friend slippedflrying to help her, and fractured her wrist. We splinted them both and stretchered them off the fell.

A party of 5 became benighted due to inexperience, an over-ambitious route and atrocious weather. One made it down to the valley to raise the alarm. When we arrived at the scene, two were suffering severe hypothermia, and two, minor. Again 90mph winds and rain and snow prevented a helicopter reaching the scene. Team members bivouacked until first light, when two casualties were walked out, and two were stretchered to Angle Tarn. Although winds were still very high, daylight allowed a helicopter from Boulmer to pick up the two stretcher cases.

This woman slipped on a wet footpath and sustained a depressed skull fracture. Her condition was monitored with our Propaq portable monitor and she was taken to hospital in Kendal.

An 82 year old man slipped on a descent and injured his back. He was immobilised and evacuated on our vacuum mattress, and taken to hospital in Kendal.

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 young foreign student sustained an ankle injury in the Loft Crag area. A search was mounted, but we failed to find him. He was eventually tracked down in the Stickle Barn pub. He and his friends were debriefed in the universal language, and our Team members were recalled from the far reaches of Langdale.

Some incidents go down in Team Folklore. This one has become the "1 Olb. of potatoes" job. Once upon a time their were four adventurous young men who decided to go on an expedition. They packed their bags very full. They packed 10lb. of potatoes. They weren't going to go hungry on their expedition. They set off late in the day and made slow progress. (Remember, their bags were very heavy). As darkness fell they found themselves at 2000ft. on the side of Great Rigg Man. They put their tents up, and the wind took them down again, so they sat and shivered for an hour or so.

This woman had no crampons or ice axe when she slipped and slid 400ft. on snow, breaking both wrists, and sustaining minor head injuries. She did manage to walk down to Mickleden where she was met by the Team. 10/10 for self reliance. 2/10 and SEE ME for planning.

A young couple chose to ascend the fell by a very obscure route. It would have been an odd choice in warm, dry conditions, so in the snow and ice that prevailed, it left us scratching our heads The young man took a tumble, hit his head, and then carried on uphill(?). They eventually became cragfast and started to shout for help. Their shouts were heard by a passing postman, who raised the alarm. We eventually tracked them down by following the trail of blood uphill. Both were suffering from severe hypothermia and the younq man had a nasty head injury.

A young woman slipped on ice and fractured her tib. and fib. It was cold and dark.

A new day, a New Year, the same old injuries. A woman slipped crossing a stream and fractured her ankle.

During the previous incident we were alerted to another incident at Grasmere where a woman had broken her lower leg. Fortunately we could drive, off road, to her and she was taken to her group's minibus for onward transport to hospital.

A Team member out on the fells came across a man who had collapsed and died of a suspected heart attack. He summoned assistance from the Team and with the help of a helicopter from RAF Boulmer the body was recovered.

A helicopter on a social visit to Ambleside was requested to attend an incident, along with a handful of Team members, at Lingmell End, to assist Kendal MRT with a man with a bad leg fracture.

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.

Five students from Bradford decided that a trip to the Lakes would be a good idea after a hard night on the town. They arrived in the area mid afternoon. They wanted to go for a walk up Coniston Old Man but couldn't find it! (Coniston MRT- you don't know how lucky you were). They did manage to find the path up to Stickle Tarn and get about halfway up before becoming cragfast. It was 8p.m. when they set off. They had one torch and no decent clothing. It took them two hours to cover a distance that most people could cover in under half an hour.

A local woman reported hearing whistles. We started a search in the area, in cold, snowy conditions. Nothing was found. We decided it was probably a farmer sorting his sheep out, or kids enjoying the snow.