Incident
18 in 2004
Type
Location
Great Gable
Other Agencies

Cragfast walker is assisted off the scree by use of climbing harness and tapes

Cragfast walker is assisted off the scree by use of climbing harness and tapes

The team were called by Workington Police to rescue a 29yr old male walker who had become cragfast on steep scree on Great Gable. He had been descending when he lost his way in thick cloud. He managed to call the team on his mobile (battery on low) and advised he was on the south slopes. A limited call out was made but after the initial group had set out it became apparent, due to further information from the cragfast individual that it might not be as straightforward as initially thought. A full team call out was made and a more in depth search plan was put together.Making use of his mobile phone and after a period of whistling in sequence by the search parties on the fell, the cragfast person was eventually located, high on Great Gable between Great Hellgate and Kern Knotts, about 200m above the traverse path on very unstable scree. Weather conditions were very poor and although cold and wet he was safely assisted down to Styhead and then down towards Seathwaite where he was handed over to a small search group from Keswick MRT. Including the four Keswick MRT members, around 15 team members were involved on the fell. The rescue base was closed at 2200 hrs.

Incident started at 16:30 and ended at 22:00 making 5.5 hrs in total. There were 15 Wasdale team members involved. Total rescuer hours: 83

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