Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team has been assisting people in the western fells of the Lake District for over 50 years. We cover England’s highest mountain, Scafell Pike, and respond to over one hundred calls for help each year. The team consists of approximately forty ‘professional volunteers’ who give their time to help those in need, whatever the weather, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. For more information please read our about page. We rely on generous donations from the public to fund the team. Once a year, we recruit a new intake of probationary members.
Recent Rescues
Scafell Pike – Sat 16th Mar 2024
We were called yesterday afternoon by Cumbria Police regarding a walker who had fallen a sustained a very painful shoulder injury. A full callout was made and additional helicopter support was requested due to the nature of the injury, weather conditions and length of time it would take for the team to reach the walker. Duddon and Furness MRT was also asked to support with a possibility of a long stretcher carry. The Helimed 58 crew was able to get onto scene relatively quickly and give treatment and strong pain relief, however, evacuation by air was unachievable due to weather…
Scafell Pike – Sun 10th Mar 2024
A brief alert last night when a concerned family member phoned the police after a period of time with no communication from a group climbing Scafell Pike. Happily, shortly after the initial call, the police confirmed contact had been made and the group were safe and well. The lack of reliable mobile phone signal accounted for the delay in communications.
Wastwater Screes – Sat 2nd Mar 2024
As the team rescuing the dogs from incident 25 was returning to base, another call had been received from Cumbria Police and more team members with fresher legs had been deployed. Once again, they passed each other in opposite directions. The call was regarding a mother and son who had become stuck on the Screes ‘path’ with no injuries. The well-practiced response of a boat deployment, pick-off, and transfer to the opposite shore was undertaken without incident and the team returned to base. In total, callouts were ongoing from 4:39pm on Friday to 6:11pm on Saturday evening, a true test…
Piers Gill, Scafell Pike – Fri 1st Mar 2024
Part 1 – Walker rescue: Cumbria Police tasked the team for the fourth time on Friday evening. A Father was reporting his son overdue from a walk up Scafell Pike. He had reached the summit successfully at 4pm, however no contact had been possible since. As it was not known which route had been taken, a search of all of the normal car parks was undertaken, with his car discovered at Seathwaite by Keswick MRT. Due to the winter conditions including heavy snowfall at height, lone walker and his inexperience, a full callout was made for a search. Support from…
Corridor Route, Scafell Pike – Fri 1st Mar 2024
The third call of the evening from Cumbria Police started with a similar situation to the previous one. A party of 3 inexperienced walkers were lost on their descent at exactly the same location. Their waterproofs had failed and footwear was inadequate so they were concerned for their safety. They were stuck and unable to move. Again a limited callout was made to locate and escort the party off the fell, however, shortly afterwards further information was received saying that one of the walkers was now unconscious. This escalated the matter significantly and so a full callout was made and…
Corridor Route, Scafell Pike – Fri 1st Mar 2024
A further call from Cumbria Police involved a party of 2 walkers who were reporting themselves lost on their Scafell Pike descent. Unfortunately the Team Leader was unable to make further contact with the party by phone, but coordinates from the original emergency call was available, so their location was known. Due to the prevailing winter conditions, and lack of further contact, a search party from the team was tasked to investigate and escort off the fell if necessary. However, shortly after this request was made, contact was made with the walkers; they had managed to descend on the correct…