Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team was called out after a couple had raised the alarm when they became stuck on Striding Edge. By the time the team made contact they had managed to get onto the Helvellyn plateau. It had gone dark by then and the couple were not confident navigating themselves off the mountain.

The team send 2 Land Rovers and 7 team member made their way up and collected the stranded couple. They were escorted back down the valley and given a lift back to Glenridding in the Land Rover.

At 14.23 hrs on Tuesday 4th January a report was received by the duty leader at Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team that vehicles were stuck on the Kirkstone Pass with possible damage and it was unknown if any injuries had occurred. On liaising with Cumbria Police they requested that the team was mobilised to investigate due to the conditions of the road reported at the time.

The duty leader and one member of the team, who was already at base, attended in a team Landrover. On arrival it was established that one vehicle was stuck on the ice/snow on a steep part of the pass. The council grittier was at the scene and the vehicle was freed and driven onto the summit. A second vehicle had slipped on the ice and unfortunately hit the wall causing damage to this vehicle.

Fortunately there were no injuries and recovery was arranged. The incident took an hour in total with two team members attending. The team would like to remind everyone that the mountain passes can be treacherous at this time of year and often only passable with 4×4 vehicles. Please take care if either on the roads or the fells as it is very icy and slippy at the present time.