Scafell – Thu 12th Dec 2024

A call was received from Cumbria Police about a lone fell runner who had slipped on a steep descent on the flanks of Sca Fell, sustaining an extremely painful upper arm and/or shoulder injury. This rendered her unable to move at all.

A callout was swiftly made and several team members were also available to travel direct to the scene. Additional support was requested from Helimed assets but unfortunately due to weather conditions and cloud cover they had to abort.

Once on scene the increasingly cold runner was assessed and provided with additional shelter and insulation. A Coastguard helicopter with winching capability was then requested to help with a swift evacuation, with Rescue 199 from Prestwick quickly responding.

Strong pain relief was given to the runner to make her as comfortable as possible, before transferring to a vacuum mattress (full body splint) and team stretcher in readiness for the winch evacuation.

Rescue 199 arrived on scene and winched the runner on board before a transfer to hospital.

Thanks to all three helicopter crews for their rapid support.

We’d like also to wish the runner a very swift and full recovery. She was 42 miles into a solo Bob Graham Round attempt, so hopefully once recovered she will return to complete the challenge.