A notable milestone was achieved by Keswick Mountain Rescue Team over the holiday period.
A number of rescues – including three fatalities – leading up to the new year saw the volunteers surpass the previous record of 140 callouts in a year – which last happened in 2015 – with 146 in 2024.
The team’s 141st rescue of 2024 involved a cockapoo that had managed to get itself stuck on a ledge several metres above a beck at Caldbeck
The owners tried to get to the dog but wisely considered it too risky so called for help. A small team made their way upstream from Caldbeck village, rigged a rope rescue system and lowered a team member to the dog.
After securing the animal, the team raised rescuer and dog a short distance back up to the path where it was happily re-united with its owner. Eight team members were involved for two hours and 23 minutes.
Also in the lead up to Christmas, a mountain biker on the red north trail at Whinlatter Forest came across an unresponsive lone male biker.
The passer-by immediately started cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and called the emergency services. The Keswick team arrived and continued attempts at resuscitation. Sadly, and despite their best efforts, nothing could be done to save the man.
The team’s 142nd incident saw members assist a walker who had slipped and injured her ankle while descending the rocky path by Cat Gill on Walla Crag. Her partner called for assistance and members of Keswick MRT provided pain relief, splinted the ankle and stretchered the walker down to Great Wood car park.
The woman was then taken by her partner to Carlisle hospital for further checks and treatment.
The 143rd incident took place on Boxing Day afternoon and involved a man descending Barrow who was unable to weight bear after slipping and injuring his knee. On arrival Keswick team dressed the cut knee and stretchered the man off the fell to his partner.
And later that afternoon, due to the foggy conditions, members of the team helped volunteers with the Langdale/Ambleside MRT transfer a deceased man, along with family members, from a Coastguard helicopter that was redirected to Crow Park in Keswick.
The man’s body was taken the short distance to the Keswick MRT base while waiting for the coroner. He had tragically died in an accident on Grizedale Hause near Rydal.
The 145th callout was to assist Patterdale MRT in the search for a missing mountain biker and his dog near the summit of Helvellyn after 9pm on Sunday December 29. A bike and phone were found, but the man and dog could not be located. The search was called off in the early hours of Monday amid atrocious conditions.
Other Lake District teams returned at first light and located and recovered the man who had died in a fall from the summit plateau. The dog was found alive.
The year was rounded off with the 146th incident – a call to assist the Cockermouth team who were low on numbers with a stretcher carry for a man who had slipped on wet rock and broken his ankle near Buttermere lake.
