On Saturday, 21st February, the Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team (MRT) was alerted by Cumbria Police to an incident on the Gowbarrow traverse involving a male walker who had sustained a debilitating knee injury. The team was deployed immediately, with 12 volunteer members responding to the call.

Upon reaching the scene, a Team Remote Rescue Medical Technician (RRMT) conducted an assessment of the casualty. To stabilize the injury and manage the patient’s pain, medical relief was administered and the leg was professionally splinted on the hillside. Due to the nature of the terrain and the injury, the casualty was placed into a mountain rescue stretcher.

Team members then conducted a manual carry-down of the hillside, navigating the technical sections of the traverse to reach a waiting team 4×4 vehicle. Patterdale MRT would like to extend a particular note of thanks to the fell runners who stopped their own exercise to stay with the casualty and his wife until the rescue team arrived.

This act of kindness and support provided vital reassurance during the initial stages of the incident. The Team wishes the casualty a swift and full recovery.

On Tuesday 17/02/2026 at 15:15hrs the team were called out after report of a walker who had fallen and potentially broken their ankle. The call out felt like deja vu as the team had dealt with an almost identical incident in the same spot only 2 days previous.

The location which is the descend on the north side of Glenridding Dodd is not a hot spot for call outs. The team responded quickly and due to the previous experience already had a plan ready for rescue and evacuation. The casualty was treated for her dislocated ankle and given pain relief. She was then taken on a stretcher down The Rake into Glenridding The casualty was then taken to hospital by her husband.

On 15/02/2026 around 11:30 hrs, the team were called out regards a female walker who had gone over her ankle and was unable to continue her walk. The walker had been out with her family walking and when descending Glenridding Dodd had gone over on her ankle and was in severe pain.

A couple of passersby had attempted to help her off the mountain but the pain was too severe to continue. The team located the casualty quickly on the north side of Glenridding Dodd and she was treated for the severe pain and her ankle was stabilised. The casualty was then evacuated on a stretcher via The Rake down into Glenridding.

The casualty was then transferred to the base and handed over to a land ambulance for transport to Hospital.

On Saturday 7th February at 15:45hrs Cumbria Police contacted the Team to reports of a Female who had been walking and had sustained an injury to her knee and unable to carry on. The Duty Leader contacted the casualty and her companions and established they had taken the steamer to Howtown and were walking around the Lake back to Glenridding.

The female was in pain and could only walk a few metres before being unable to weight bear on her leg. A full call out was initiated and team members travelled across the Lake on Patrick Pete their Rescue Rib to the casualty site, once on scene the casualty was treated by our Remote Rescue Medical Technician (RRMT) her leg was splinted and pain relief given.

The casualty was placed onto the stretcher and carried down to the lake shore and loaded onto the Rib where she was conveyed to Glenridding pier and allowed to travel to Hospital for further treatment with her colleagues.

On Friday 30/01/25 at 1700hrs Patterdale MRT assisted Keswick MRT on an incident on the west side of Helvellyn. A walker had slipped and fallen in the snow a 100 meters down a gully on Brown Cove Crags. Five Patterdale Members had just returned to the base from a snowy walk on Helvellyn, when the call out came in.

It was quickly established that the incident was in the Keswick area and the incident was transferred to their control. Due to KMRT initially being low on responding team members and seriousness of the incident, KMRT requested assistance. The 5 Patterdale members then travelled to the Thirlmere valley to assist.

On 11-11-2026 Cumbria Police contacted Patterdale Mountain Rescue requesting assistance for a camper that was stranded on Nethermost pike 890m above sea level in a winter storm. Unfortunatly the location had no phone signal causing a lack of communication and a difficulty pinpointing the casualties location.

Once his location was established two team members were deployed to locate him in his collapsed tent to assist him off. Due to the extreme wind and snow conditions the progress was difficult. The casualty was accessed confirming that the casualty was dangerously cold and walking off was going to be a long process. Additional team members were called out from both Patterdale and Penrith MRT to assist what was looking like a long stretcher evacuation.

The Coastguard helicopter was due to attend despite the high wind but thankfully as the casualty descended and fuelled he managed to make progress walking allowing the Coastguard to be stood down. Extreme winter conditions can change rapidly and this call out relied on a lot of volunteers to ensure both the casualty and the Mountain Rescue members could safely navigate on and off the fell.