Incidents

On Thursday 19th May Cumbria Police received reports of a male with chest pains whilst scrambling on Striding Edge. Volunteers of Patterdale Mountain Rescue were called out and deployed immediately to scene. Due to the location and the seriousness of the casualty, a Coastguard Helicopter from Prestwick was requested, along with the Great North Air Ambulance. The air ambulance landed on Helvellyn Summit and their medical teams once on scene, began providing immediate medical care. Due to wind conditions the coastguard helicopter was unable to winch from scene and assisted by transferring 13 team members and technical equipment onto Helvellyn summit. Once stabilised the casualty was transferred into the team stretcher and lowered 200 metres down the gulley towards Red Tarn basin. He was carried to the outflow then transferred into the Rescue Helicopter were he was flown to hospital for further treatment. Duty Leader for the rescue Neil Barrow stated “this was our second challenging and technical rescue within a week on Striding Edge, taking over 5 hours in total and involving 18 team members.”  Thanks to the Coastguard Helicopter for their quick response and assisting in lifting team members and equipment onto the summit saving valuable time.