Over Sunday night and Monday morning Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team carried out a difficult 13-hour rescue on precarious ground, hauling three stranded scramblers over 100m up a crag.
© Dan Bailey
The team was called out just after midnight on the morning of Monday 10th following an emergency mobile phone call from three male walkers in their early 20s.
Having left at 7.30 pm on Sunday evening with what the team describe as 'adequate' equipment (map, compass and torches) the group ascended the mountain via the Flass Knotts, and up into Lingmell Crags to the west side of Piers Gill - tricky terrain even in daylight (which by then it probably wasn't). They became disorientated whilst ascending the craggy area in low cloud and found themselves on extremely steep and dangerous ground.
Their approximate location was established and a small group were dispatched to locate them, says the report on the Wasdale MRT website.
They were located in a very exposed location, high on the Lingmell Crags near Straight Gill. Two team members then undertook a serious climb to get to their location and make them safe while further team members carted some very heavy gear to the summit of Lingmell.
Due to the poor conditions and the precariousness of their stance it was decided to wait until first light before evacuating them up the crag.
A technical haul system using 400 metres of rescue rope was set up from the summit of Lingmell, and then a team member was lowered 110m to reach the stranded scramblers. It can't have been a quick job - the incident wasn't closed until 1:30pm Monday.
Eleven Wasdale team members, eight Duddon and Furness MRT members and two search dogs were involved in this 13 hour rescue - the fifth rescue of the weekend for the Wasdale team.
Comments