- Incident
- 11 in 2009
- Type
- Callout — Injured & Medical
- Location
- Broad Crag Col, Scafell Pike
- Diagnosis
- Arm Injury, Head Injury, Multiple Injuries
Wasdale MRT were paged by the police to respond to a mobile phone ‘999’ call. A male walker in his 30s was tonight recovering in West Cumberland Hospital after falling on Scafell Pike, England’s highest mountain. The injured walker was in a party of three, all well equipped for the conditions and slipped on packed snow and ice while descending from the summit. He slid and fell over 100 feet suffering head, abdomen and wrist injuries. Helicopter evacuation was impossible because of blizzard conditions on the mountain so a long and difficult stretcher carry in deep snow over underlying ice was necessary.
Fine, sunny weather that morning attracted hundreds of walkers and climbers out to enjoy the rare winter conditions. The snow arrived as forecast in mid-afternoon and the deteriorating conditions on the fells caused many walkers to experience difficulties, fortunately not all requiring assistance. The rescue lasted 9 hrs and finished around 12.30 a.m. 22 rescuers were involved including a SARDA search dog and handler
Incident started at 15:24 and ended at 00:30 making 9.1 hrs in total. There were 22 Wasdale team members involved and the incident occured at NY 21595 07427 (altitude 857 m). Total rescuer hours: 200
