- Incident
- 65 in 2006
- Type
- Callout — Injured & Medical
- Location
- Kirkfell
- Other Agencies
- Cockermouth MRT, HMS Gannet
- Diagnosis
- Head Injury
The team were called out by Cumbria Police to rescue an injured person on Kirk Fell. The 53 year old male walker was near the summit of Kirk Fell on the Ennerdale side, towards Blacksail Pass. The man, his son and girlfriend were in a steep gulley which leads from Baysoar Slack when he slipped on the ice and sustained a serious head injury. The son raised the alarm by running down to the valley bottom and then returning to the accident site. 19 members of the Wasdale team were involved in the rescue including the four team doctors. The cloud was down to 1,000 feet and casualty location was 1,800 feet so helicopter evacuation was not possible. Freezing level was around 700 feet which had coated all the paths and rocks with a thin layer of verglass ice, extremely slippery underfoot. Due to the serious nature of his injuries, the team leader called in assistance from the Cockermouth Mountain Rescue team (around 8 – 10 team members). In addition a Sea King helicopter was called in from Royal Navy Gannet, Prestwick to land-on in the Ennerdale Valley bottom and await the stretcher party. The injured walker was airlifted at around 8.45 p.m. to be flown the 10 minute journey to West Cumberland Hospital. The incident was closed at 10.30 p.m. Thanks go to The Royal Navy and Cockermouth Team for their assistance.Post incident (29/12/06) – The critically injured walker was subsequently taken to Newcastle hospital but tragically failed to recover consciousness. The team could not have done more; the team’s condolences go out to his family and friends at this very sad time.
Incident started at 15:05 and ended at 20:30 making 5.4 hrs in total. There were 19 Wasdale team members involved and the incident occured at NY 193 112. Total rescuer hours: 103
