WMRT at the National Medical Conference

Some of our Team were at the Mountain Rescue England and Wales Medical Conference. With lectures and practical demonstrations, it was a great chance for us to hone skills, try out new kit, and share experiences with other teams. Thanks to our friends at Langdale and Ambleside for funding the weekend.

Gosforth Show

After a ferociously windy start, the Gosforth Show settled down into a really good day. The sun shone, lots of people came and WMRT made £325.14 from sales of merchandise and contributions. Big thanks to everyone for supporting us. Join us next at Eskdale Show 30th September. See you there!

40 years service for Penny Kirby

The team recently congratulated Penny Kirby on reaching the fantastic milestone of 40 years as a member of Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team. The story of her arriving in the team is somewhat serendipitous; she was climbing with friends on Skye, and in the famous Sligachan pub afterwards got talking with others about their adventures of the day. The amazing thing is that one of the those people was a Wasdale MRT team member, and they Read more…

New Graded Search Dog Team

We have a new Graded Search Dog Team Huge congratulations to Tom Cox (our neighbouring team Duddon and Furness MRT) and Search Dog Roxy who successfully passed their final assessment last night! It was a rather soggy night on Catbells but Roxy was a little super star making light work of the technical terrain and bracken (most of which was at least twice her height)! Tom and Roxy first joined the Association in March 2021, Read more…

Drigg Gala

A great day was had by all on a very hot Saturday at Drigg Gala. There were sack races, handmade ice creams, a tug of war and in the thick of it, Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team. Lots of our merchandise went to some happy customers and generous donations were offered. There was lots of interest in the work of the team and plenty of strokes for Jess the rescue dog. We raised £248 in total. Read more…

Egremont Farmers Market and Base Open Day

Many many belated thanks from April to all the lovely people who supported us at the Farmers Market in Egremont, where we provided refreshments, and our Open Day at our base the following day. Both events were a great success, the Farmers Market raising £450.06, and the Open Day £826.05. This came as a welcome surprise as it wasn’t intended as a fund-raising day, but as an opportunity for people to come and see what Read more…

Raising awareness and funds for people with cystic fibrosis

One of our team members, Stephen Walter, will shortly take on a very challenging and different fundraising event. He is doing this to raise awareness and funds for PipersAngels, a charity that is helping him and other people with cystic fibrosis. His challenge is an 80mile open sea crossing across the Atlantic Gulf Stream overnight and through the day on 25th June 2023. He is doing this challenge on a 14ft stand-up paddleboard (SUP). He Read more…

Medical Monday

Great to have a sunny evening for our “Medical Monday” training this week! We went through several scenarios of incidents we may come across, and a refresher on our medical equipment to keep our skills fresh for what is looking to be a very busy summer. Our team are on standby 24 hours a day 365 days a year, we are all unpaid volunteers and rely on donations to operate. If you’re able to and Read more…

2023 AdventureSmart Campaign

Dear Follower – this is what i have just sent out as a press release from LDSAMRA. It was a relatively slow start to 2023 with respect to numbers of callouts for our 12 rescue teams with over 400 volunteer team members but things have now caught up with previous record levels. With 182 callouts since the start of 2023, April has experience our busiest increase with 56 calls for help via ‘999’ to Cumbria Read more…

Please support one of our members raising funds for the team on the Fred Whitton

One of our team members, Andy Cramp, is raising funds for the team in May by partaking in the Fred Whitton cycling event. It’s a very tough day at 112 miles and over 3500m of ascent, so Andy will need all the advance encouragement he can get! If you’d like to help him and us you can donate below…. https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/andrew-cramp2?utm_source=messenger&utm_medium=fundraising&utm_content=andrew-cramp2&utm_campaign=pfp-share&utm_term=5c2f4b06f6ca4646ae259799be3c2290

WMRT at Brackenclose on Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday is one of the busiest days of the year for visitors to Scafell Pike, and this year members of the team were on hand close to the NT Brackenclose car park offering advice and guidance to walkers. Lots of positive engagement with people, some quality merchandise on offer and good banter made for a very enjoyable morning, and hopefully resulted in more people staying safe.

Women Mountain Rescue Volunteers

To mark International Women’s Day we’re joining mountain rescue teams throughout the country in celebrating the amazing women we have volunteering on our teams. We’re lucky to have a supportive welcoming team at Wasdale and we encourage more women to get involved!

Using GPS devices and smartphones as electronic navigation aids

A recent article on the Mountaineering Scotland website provides excellent advice on navigation including the pitfalls of using GPS devices and smartphones as  electronic navigation aids . A recent 20 hour search for a lost walker Scafell Pike / Broad Crag/ Great End involved over 70 rescuers and could have been avoided if reliance had not been placed on a mobile phone for navigation. The walker was extremely lucky to survive his ordeal on the mountain Read more…

1st Hensingham Scout Group Visit

There was a bit of drama at Scouts this week, 3 of our leaders carelessly managed to injure themselves on the field … luckily Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team were visiting & quickly organised our #Scouts into a rescue party! Thanks to the MRT volunteers for a really interesting couple of nights learning about the valuable work they do. #SkillsForLife #CumbriaScouts

Lone walker lost on Scafell Pike / Great End: A 24-hour rescue involving over 70 rescuers, 5 search dogs and 2 drones

Wasdale Mountain Rescue team were alerted by Cumbria Police at 18.26 hrs on Monday 20 February about a lone walker who had reported himself as lost on the ridge between Scafell Pike and Great End in the Lake District. Mobile phone reception was very poor, but a location was quickly established and although the weather was deteriorating with thick mist and rain, he was asked to stay where he was and shelter from the wind. Read more…