The walker was airlifted from Striding Edge. Photo: Bob Smith/grough
A walker was airlifted from a Lake District ridge after suffering injuries in a fall.
A Royal Air Force Mountain Rescue Service team from RAF Leeming went to the aid of the injured walker, who fell about 8m from Striding Edge on Saturday and landed awkwardly on a boulder.
The team, which was covering for Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team while they were on a winter training exercise in the Cairngorms, was at the scene on Helvellyn within five minutes of the call for help.
An RAF Leeming MRT spokesperson said the casualty was in a great deal of pain, so a request was made for a Coastguard helicopter to help with the rescue.
After treatment by the rescue team, the injured walker was airlifted by the helicopter from the mountain.
The Coastguard crew winch the casualty from the ridge
Local fellwalker
19 January 2020How come cumbria weatherline have not reported this incident.
A team of 3 experts set up to report on wether conditions in the lake district,
This team seems to continuously cover Helvelyn on a daily basis. Saturdays reports states a lovely day on Cumbrian fells !!!!.
STOP advertising your own winter trade experience and tell the weather based upon facts.
Saturday and Sunday was no weather for people to be on Striding edge, ice on top of rain means danger. People are reading these reports and believe it is ok to go up onto these areas.
A hiker
19 January 2020We read the fell top assessors report on Saturday and it warned of high winds (25-35mph plus gusts) plus difficult conditions on striding edge - not sure what you read? It warned that it was slippy due to snow/ice but not suitable for crampons...those reports are really helpful.
Anon
20 January 2020Mountaineers with winter gear would be fine, magve even safer than most people walking up there in summer
J Kearvell-White
20 January 2020I was up there on Saturday and the rocky section down to Swirls car park was icy enough - one lady did the whole section on her backside, which was not particularly safe either. Can't imagine what the Edges were like as there was thick mist at the summit when I got there and the wind was gusty enough to prevent getting too close to the edge to look! People I met on the said there were lots of people attempting them though. I saw at least half a dozen people on the circuit to the summit from Wythburn to Swirls above the snow line wearing TRAINERS and giggling as they slipped and slithered. I think Weatherline must have got their days wrong - I checked before setting out from Borrowdale too!
Local
20 January 2020Lots of people scrambling about and struggling on the icy compressed snow. Crampons and axe were used and in my view necessary for a safe and fun traverse of the edges. I spoke to lots of people who didn't have equipment and some who had 'managed' it without.
Not really worth the risk in my opinion. You only need to have 1 moment...
Dave F Collier
20 January 2020The guy fell right in front of our party. He was a young lad clearly scared with his mates all completely inappropriately dressed egging him on until he inevitably slipped. He was wearing treadless Vans or similar. But its hard to stop idiots being idiots. Caused a lot of inconvenience and danger to a hell of a lot of people. Hope they learnt some sort of lesson. Too many people have died on that ridge. The sensible way to go was to use crampons but it was ok for decent soled boots and plenty of care.