The police helicopter joined the operation at Holme Moss summit. Photo: Holme Valley MRT
A group of girls had to be rescued after suffering dehydration in the heat while tackling their Duke of Edinburgh’s Award expedition.
The seven were helped from the Peak District’s third highest hill when they got into difficulties yesterday as temperatures soared.
Holme Valley Mountain Rescue Team was called out about 9pm when the DofE team called for help from Black Hill, saying they were stranded.
Owen Phillips of the Holme Valley team said: “The party of seven girls from Hertfordshire was suffering from dehydration and the effects of the heat, after crisscrossing the moors trying to find a footpath down from Black Hill to Crowden.”
A police helicopter joined the operation and 22 volunteer members of the mountain rescue team took part in the search. The young walkers were found on the side of a clough above Heyden Brook.
The group was then helped in fading light to the car park on Holme Moss summit, where they were checked over and given water by members of the team, before being reunited with their group leaders.
The girls were taken to the car park at Holme Moss. Photo: Holme Valley MRT
Mr Phillips said: “This incident brings home how important it is to always pay attention to the weather and go out suitably equipped.
“We frequently find ourselves saying this when the weather is cold and wet and visibility is poor, but it applies equally to extremes of hot weather.
“On hot days, you really need to take plenty of water. The combination of heat and physical activity will rapidly cause dehydration and that will affect your ability to think clearly and make sensible navigational judgments.
“This group of girls also found out that when the sun goes down and you stop moving, it can rapidly become a lot cooler. They were equipped for that and did find they needed to put extra jackets on and use their survival bags to keep warm, even after the hottest day of the year.
“In the end it was a good result – they were all evacuated from the moor safely – and they will certainly have had a memorable end to their DofE expedition.”
Earlier in the day, Holme Valley MRT enlisted the help of the fire service to cut a lock from a gate so team members could reach an injured mountain biker.
The local rider suffered a suspected leg injury, cuts and bruises in the incident on a gravel track near Scammonden Reservoir.
The team was alerted at 3.45pm to the incident, which happened a quarter of a mile from the nearest road.
Mr Phillips said: “Once through the gate, it was possible to drive the 4×4 along tracks to the site of the incident, and transport the casualty back to the waiting ambulance.”
