- Incident
- 22 in 2000
- Type
- Callout —
- Location
- Unknown Location
Call from Whitehaven Police at 11.40 am. They had received a 999 call from someone (with a mobile phone), reporting that a 44 yr old man had collapsed with hypothermia, somewhere between Broad Crag and the summit of Scafell Pike. As the Team was en route to Wasdale, further conversations with the informant advised that the casualty had now become unconscious and that he was very cold. Weather at the scene was cold, windy and extremely wet, and they were in thick cloud. There were a total of seven adults at the casualty site and a further seven members from the group were descending towards Wasdale Head. We found the group near the top of Piers Ghyll and worked on re-warming the casualty for about an hour, before carrying him on a stretcher down to a point on Lingmel Nose, where an RAF helicopter could get in to lift him to safety. He was flown to West Cumberland Hospital, where he made a full recovery. (Although he did make a quick recovery, he had been unresponsive prior to the Team arriving and had got so cold that he’d stopped shivering – i.e.: a sign that his body core temperature was below 30 degrees C. He certainly required assistance !!) As well as being warmed, he was treated with oxygen and his condition was monitored with the Propac. We also had a portable Automatic External Defibrillator with us, just in case he’d gone into Ventricular Fibulation. Due to the high winds, rain and low cloud, the helicopter had some difficulty getting near the casualty’s location (at Piers Gill). They were only able to get in to the pick up point during a break in the clouds and had to get him on board as quickly as possible. One of our team members twisted his ankle on the way down and we did think we might have to also carry him off. However, to all our relief, he managed to walk down under his own steam. Most team members were back at base by around 5.30pm but I think it was about 6.30pm when it was finally closed. also see newspaper article with picture……
Incident started at 11:40.
