Striding Edge, where a walker caught a woman who fell

A woman had a lucky escape when she was caught by a passing walker after falling from a Lakeland ridge.

The 47-year-old was held by a walker on the path below Striding Edge after falling 3m (10ft) from the ridge. The incident happened at about 3pm today, Sunday.

Last week, an unfortunate scrambler fell into the arms of Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team leader Julian Carradice after slipping on Broad Stand. The rescuers had already been called to aid a mountaineer who was injured in an identical accident.

Today’s fall happened on Striding Edge, another accident blackspot, with exposure on either side of its knife edge, a popular ascent route to Helvellyn, England’s third highest mountain.

The Suffolk woman who fell today injured her shin in the incident and was unable to make her way off the fell. 11 members of Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team were helped by six members of the Penrith team and a medical student. The walker was treated at the scene by the team doctor before being carried to the Patterdale team’s base. She then made her own way to hospital.

Today’s incident was Patterdale MRT’s 48th of the year.