Scafell – Sat 27th Sep 2025

The team was called last Saturday about a walker who had taken a long tumble fall on steep and dangerous ground whilst trying to scramble towards Lords Rake. He was reported to have multiple injuries and in significant pain.

A full team callout was initiated and Helimed 08 self-tasked to see if they could help. However, they were unable to access the walker safely. As the exact location became clearer a Coastguard helicopter with winching capability was requested and Rescue 936 from Caernarfon was dispatched. With numbers a little low due to many team members unavailable at an annual team training event, and with the likelihood of a difficult medical situation alongside a technical rope rescue, additional support from Duddon and Furness MRT was also requested.

Unfortunately weather conditions did not allow a direct winch by Rescue 936, so they kindly offered to provide multiple lifts of team members and heavy crag rescue equipment as high as possible.

Once on scene a medical assessment was made and strong pain relief given to make the walker more comfortable. He was then packaged carefully into a vacuum mattress (full body splint) and the team stretcher. With conditions still preventing a helicopter winch, the evacuation had to be achieved by a stretcher lower of 150m down a steep gully using approximately 400m metres of rope.

Once safely back down to relatively level ground at Hollow Stones, Rescue 936 once again attempted to evacuate, only to be thwarted by the descending cloud base and arriving rain.

A stretcher carry was made safely down to Brackenclose, and the walker finally transferred into the care of a NWAS land ambulance crew for onward assessment and treatment at hospital.

Thanks to the crew of Rescue 936, Duddon and Furness MRT, Helimed 08 and NWAS for their help. A great team effort.

We wish the walker a quick recovery and hope he is back on the fells soon.