Striding Edge

Rescuers had to rope up a petrified walker who became stuck on a Cumbrian mountain.

The 17-year-old was coaxed from Striding Edge yesterday, Monday, by members of the Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team after her 20-year-old boyfriend called for help. She could neither move up nor down from her cragfast position near the ‘bad step’ on the edge, close to the summit of Helvellyn.

Although she was uninjured, the woman could not move from her exposed site on the edge.

A spokesperson for the team said: “With the security of a rope, the girl was coaxed into moving and the party descended to Greenside and back to Patterdale.”

The team had earlier been called out to help a walker who dislocated his shoulder after falling at Aira Force. The 68-year-old, from Clifton in Bedfordshire, slipped on a wet and greasy rock near the beck.

The spokesperson said: “He was given pain relief by the team and his arm was splinted before he was placed on a stretcher and hoisted via a pulley system to flatter ground.

“The man was carried on a stretcher to a field where the North West Air Ambulance was able to land. The team doctor gave further analgesia and the man was air lifted to Furness General Hospital, Barrow.”

Penrith MRT also helped with the evacuation of the walker, who was with his family when the accident happened.

Striding Edge was the scene of another incident on Saturday when a 20-year-old American woman got lost while coming down the edge. Her family group had split and arranged to meet up again at the Hole in the Wall.

When she failed to rendezvous, her party reported her missing after getting back down to Glenridding, although the day was fine with no weather problems.

A national park ranger reported there were a lot of people on Striding Edge and suggested waiting an hour before any rescue mission was launched. Patterdale MRT members spoke to the woman’s family and she turned up safe and well at Glenridding as the team was preparing to mount a rescue.