Helmet may have saved climber’s life say rescuers

The life of a teenage climber may have been saved by his helmet after falling on Shepherds Crag in Borrowdale on Saturday.

KMRT volunteers and ambulance crew provided treatment for the climber at the scene of his fall. Photo by Keswick MRT.

Keswick Mountain Rescue Team volunteers were called out to the 19-year-old, who was knocked unconscious after falling eight metres at around 4pm.

With the casualty drifting in and out of consciousness, the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) and an ambulance also attended the incident. After securing the man in a vacuum mattress, rescue team members stretchered him to a waiting ambulance for transfer to the Cumberland Infirmary at Carlisle.

Mountain Rescue volunteers stretchering the injured climber off Shepherd’s Crag. Photo by Keswick MRT.

The Keswick team heard the following day that he had been discharged from hospital with bruises to his shoulder and a cut to his head.

A team spokesman said: “We were pleased to see he (the injured climber) was wearing a helmet which may have saved his life or prevented a life changing injury when he hit the ground. He was remarkably lucky. The climber gave us permission to share the photo of his helmet (pictured).”