Broad Stand, scene of the rescue. Photo: Bob Smith/grough
A walker was airlifted from a Lake District mountain after falling on a scramble route.
The man badly injured his leg in the incident at Broad Stand on Scafell on Friday.
Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team members were alerted about 3.10pm and 15 of its volunteers were involved for almost 4½ hours in dealing with the incident.
The Great North Air Ambulance flew to the site near Mickledore, between Scafell and Scafell Pike. The crew treated the injured man and also helped airlift Wasdale MRT members up to Mickledore.
The Caernarfon Coastguard helicopter also flew to the scene.
A Wasdale MRT spokesperson said: “Once on scene the team helped to package the casualty and then move him a short distance to a position where he could be winched by the Coastguard helicopter who then took the walker to hospital.
“We were also helped by two passing climbers who were able to belay the stretcher while it was moved.”
Broad Stand, which lies on the shortest route between England’s two highest mountains, is an accident blackspot for Wasdale MRT and has been the scene of several fatal falls. Its passage involves an exposed move on a route officially classified as a Difficult rock climb.
Descending towards upper Eskdale a short distance and using the Foxes Tarn route is considered a safer option.
It is believed poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge may have descended Broad Stand in 1802 during which he said ‘My limbs were all in a tremble’.
Mike
21 May 2018Not a walkers' route. Avoid unless you have climbing gear + experience!
OldManOfTheHills
21 May 2018I can only agree with Mike. It is not a walkers route and is top of grade as scrambling route and site of many injuries and some deaths. Unless the IP was a climber he shouldn't have been there.
Isnt it about time someone placed a suitable danger sign at the foot of it just before Fatman's Agony
johnm
23 May 2018Rather than putting signs up (which not everyone will see, and many might ignofre) would it be better to indicate accident blackspots with hatching on a map, consulting with an area's rescue teams?
Everyone who goes up there – whether climber, walker, ice cream vendor or door to door salesman – should have, and consult a map.
Ian512
10 June 2018We need to remember a hill itself is not dangerous but a particular hill, or parts of it, may be dangerous for a particular person.
The main problem is - “To be careless, first of all you’ve got to know what you’re supposed to be careful about.” Lee Child - too many people are trying to 'live the dream' but have little idea of what they need to know.