At 18.49hrs on Saturday 11th March the Duty Leader of Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team was contacted by Cumbria Police regarding a group of 9 men from the Manchester area who were somewhere on Striding Edge/Helvellyn area needing assistance to get back down to their vehicles.

Contact was made with the group and after a short while a Sarloc text was intercepted and the group’s location was established as on the summit of Helvellyn. Team members were put on standby whilst it was ascertained the best way of getting the group off safely – they were not injured, had waterproofs and torches but no maps or compasses to assist them with navigation.

It was decided that the best route for them to take was down to Thirlmere as they did not want to go back over either of the edges due to the conditions. The group eventually started to descend down Brown Cove crags and down the path. The Duty Leader monitored their progress on live location on WhatsApp and further phone calls.

Two vehicles were despatched from Patterdale to liaise with the group and drive them back to their vehicles at Glenridding so they could head back to their accommodation in the south lakes. It was established that the group had set off far too late in the day, mid afternoon, and as they traversed Striding Edge it had got dark whilst climbing to the summit.

The group had boots and waterproofs plus torches but no other winter gear. At times they were knee deep in snow and there were blizzard conditions on the way down. The men were extremely grateful for the assistance. The rescue took just under 4 hours and involved 3 team members whilst the rest of the team were on standby.

Volunteers of Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team had recently returned from their annual winter mountaineering weekend when they were called out by Cumbria Police, to reports of a lady who had slipped and injured her ankle while ascending the path up towards Red Tarn, Helvellyn.

When the team arrived on scene, a bivi shelter was erected to provide protection from the elements while the ankle was assessed. Due to the nature of the injury, the ankle was placed in a splint and the lady was transferred on to a stretcher and transported back to Greenside Mines to the team landrovers. The rescue lasted 3.5hrs and involved 9 members.

Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team’s former incident archive records this callout on 21 January 2023 as ‘Ankle injury at Angle Tarn’. No further public incident report wording survives in the available archive.

On Wednesday 14/12/22 at around 1400hrs the Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team received a call with regard to a lone walker who had slipped on ice and felt dizzy afterwards. The Team was already dealing with another incident at the time. It was quickly established that the man was on a path coming down from Hartsop above How Fell.

Three team members made their way to the area and met the walker in Cowbridge carpark. The walker was fine and had bruised his knee after the fall and had then managed to walk down himself. No further action was required and the rest of the team were stood down.

On Wednesday 14th December at 12.35hrs the Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team was requested by Cumbria Police to attend a woman who had slipped on an icy path whilst descending Gowbarrow after setting off from Aira Force with a walking group. The Duty leader called out the Team and 9 members attended where they were able to drive a Landrover near to the casualty site then made their way on foot for the final stretch.

The lady was treated for a suspected fractured ankle, placed on a stretcher and sledged down to the roadside where she was then conveyed to the group’s transport back at Aira Force. The lady was then taken to hospital for further treatment. The rescue took around 3 hours in total .

On Sunday 27th November at around 16:30 hrs Cumbria Police requested the Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team’s assistance for a woman who had slipped and sustained a leg injury. She had been walking in the Grisedale Valley, descending from Birks towards Patterdale.

The Deputy Leader contacted the casualty’s colleagues and, due to the nature of the suspected injury from the description given, a Coastguard Rescue Helicopter was requested for a quick evacuation. Team members were quickly at the scene and the lady was given pain relief by Team Doctors as she was in considerable pain. Her leg was put in a splint and she was then placed onto a stretcher ready for the Helicopter to lift her.

As the Coastguard Helicopter arrived the weather turned to heavy rain and poor visibility forcing the aircraft to hold off in the valley bottom for a while. Through some excellent flying the pilots eventually managed to get to the scene and winched the casualty on board and she was then flown to hospital for further treatment.

The team thanks the Coastguard for their assistance in the rescue, seventeen team members attended the incident which took just over 3 hours.