Crinkle Crags

And then again. It's not funny! This time four people, but essentially exactly the same problem.

Then it happened again! A couple phoned to say they were lost and it was becoming dark. They were near the fence again, so we were able to send them in the right direction.

A woman phoned to say that she become stuck in mist and was unable to find her way off Crinkle Crags. She had located the electric fence and we found her near Red Tarn.

A group of 3 teenagers became lost, somewhere in the Bowfell/Crinkle Crags area.

A group that started at 20, reduced to 14, then seemed to reduce to 7, were reported overdue and delayed by one or two of their party suffering from dehydration and ankle injuries.

Never content to deal with one rescue at a time, we were also requested to look for two men who had become stuck on Crinkle Crags.

Two men became benighted on Long Top. Despite being able to give us a ten figure grid reference from their GPS, they were unable to locate a way down.

We were called to a man who had suffered a knee injury on Crinkle Crags. Due to the distance of the carry-off

60 year old man set off from Langdale to walk to Buttermere via Crinkle Crags. Team assisted by RAF Boulmer, Furness, Eskdale, Kendal, Cockermouth and Keswick MRTs failed to find him. Search called off at 5-00 am.

Inevitably, while all this was going on a man was reported overdue from Crinkle Crags by his wife. He was quickly located on the road from Blea Tarn, while his wife was checking the other pubs in the valley, there being some confusion over the exact number of pubs with 'Dungeon Ghyll' in their name.

Search for a family lost in mist on Crinkle Crags. Located about 9.30 near Rest Ghyll and returned to the valley. Assisted by SARDA

A group of 5 became stuck in what they describes as a 'white-out'. After speaking to them their priorities seemed to lie with maintaining a good mobile phone signal, rather than getting off the hill. They were persuaded otherwise, and after following directions, located Three Tarns and found their way down to Langdale.

A woman sustained a suspected fractured ankle near the top of Gunson Knott. It was a long, hot haul up to assist her. Kendal MRT were called to help because of the lengthy evacuation. As is often the case things became complicated when incident 38 occurred before we'd finished.

A woman phoned for help after becoming lost on Crinkle Crags in mist. She was given directions to try and find Three Tarns. Three hours later she had made little or no progress to anywhere useful, and was becoming cold and distressed, so we gave up and sent the team to look for her. She was located at 7pm just north of Long Top and escorted back to civilisation.

A couple phoned for help when they got lost on Crinkle Crags, after backtracking when they couldn't descend the Bad Step. They were guided to Three Tarns and found their own way off from there.

A tale of two men, two mountains and two days. Sometimes you go up one mountain and by some quirk of fate, accidentally climb another. Two men went up Crinkle Crags on Friday, became disorientated and reported themselves lost, cold and unable to find a way down. An initial search of Crinkle Crags was organised, followed by a more extensive search of Bowfell as well, after we failed to locate them. With four SARDA dogs and Wasdale MRT helping out, they were eventually located at the north end of Bowfell.

A man reported his two companions as suffering from hypothermia on the summit of Crinkle Crags. A search was organised, because he was uncertain exactly where they were, which is no surprise, since they were eventually located on Bowfell. The two casualties were cajoled on to their feet and all were escorted down The Band. We were assisted by Kendal MRT. A combination of poor judgement, poor equipment, and poor navigation combined to cause this incident.

Two men were reported overdue back at their hotel in Keswick by their wives, having set off from Langdale to complete a trip over Crinkle Crags. They failed to return. Their car was located in Langdale and a subsequent search, assisted by Wasdale MRT and SARDA located the men near Heron Crag, Eskdale. They were found by members of Wasdale MRT finding their way by the light of their mobile phone and making very slow progress. They were returned to their car for the journey back to their hotel. Team members were able to return to their beds around 1am.

A man was reported as overdue from his walk on Crinkle Crags by his wife. Enquires were made and while a small team were making some preliminary checks of the road and parking places, a phone call was received from the man saying he was OK, but it was unclear due to poor reception where he was. A second call was later received from Brotherilkeld, Eskdale, to say he was safe and well. The search was called off and he was returned to his car.

Having dealt with the previous debacle we were called upon again with a report of a woman and 11-year-old boy overdue from a walk from Crinkle Crags. They were located during initial checks of the valley bottom, having made a navigational error, and coming down in the wrong place. They had been delayed by this, but were located en-route back to Ambleside.

A party of 10 split at Great Knott, with the faster 5 continuing part of their intended route Crinkle Crags and coming down The Band. The slower group were reported overdue at 18:30, after it became obvious that they hadn't returned to their parked car. The group was of mixed age, youngest 11-years old and the oldest 69-years-old. A search was organised, with assistance from Wasdale MRT, Duddon & Furness MRT and SARDA. During the planning stage, another phone call was received via the police, reporting two people sheltering in a tent in Lingcove Beck.

A family group became separated, with one party becoming lost. Their phone call came to us via the Isle of Man, enjoying a brief holiday en-route. Contact was made with the group and it was established that they had reunited and were now confident that they could find their way down. The Bad Step diversion strikes again!?

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.

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.

A group of 4 became stuck in frozen conditions near the summit of Shelter Crags. One of them had slipped and was being prevented from falling further by a short length of rope. Her companions were unable to recover her. The group were located by search dog Beinn. She was recovered to safe ground, then escorted, along with the rest of the party, down The Band. Shortly after the start of this rescue, we were alerted to callout number 13 (see below). They were suffering fatigue, hypothermia and minor injuries.