The incident happened on the slopes of Ingleborough. Photo: Bob Smith/grough
A walker was rescued from the slopes of Ingleborough after she injured herself in a fall.
The Cave Rescue Organisation was called out about 1.10pm on Saturday to the path between Simon Fell Breast and Sulber Nick.
The 58-year-old walker suffered a deep gash to her leg below the knee.
Police initially contacted Swaledale Mountain Rescue Team after a supplied What3words location proved to be 50 miles out. A Swaledale team spokesperson said: “We used good old-fashioned OS grid reference and passed the job to our neighbours in Cave Rescue.”
CRO members used their Honda Pioneer all-terrain vehicle to a point neat the injured walker while two Land Rovers with team members drove via Crummackdale to the Nick Pot area.
A CRO spokesperson said: “First members on scene assessed the patient and put her into an insulated casualty bag, although her companions had made good use of the lightweight group shelter they were carrying as shared group equipment.
“Other rescue equipment was taken from the Land Rovers and, once her leg was properly immobilised, she was stretchered down to one of the Land Rovers. This carried her off the hill to meet more of her companions who took her to a hospital near home to have the wound treated.”
A Swaledale MRT spokesperson said: “Even if you are asked to use the W3W app please still try to give a grid reference; it really does help. The OS Locate app is great.”
Merton Hale
20 May 2021Nearly all phones make it very easy (2 or 3 clicks) to txt your GPS coordinates to somone. No additional app needed.
Why don't the emergency services encourage people to use this?
Perhaps they do not know?
A concerned mountain rescue co-ordinator
21 May 2021As suggested above. Use OS LOCATE: It's free and gives a six fig OS grid ref.
W3W is a solution looking for a problem in the UK, definitely when thinking about any outdoor activities.
I've been on the receiving end of badly transcribed W3W locations that have had me looking all over the world. The "sounds like" feature to find close matches nearby is hit and miss. Mostly I just ignore the blinking thing and send a Phone Find or speak to the people.
It does work sometimes of course, but it's more often wrong than right and just slows down response.
The real answer is to get AML (Advanced Mobile Location) data from the emergency services. This is usually more accurate and means right from the off we know where you are (or where... if you stop moving - which is another top tip).
If you don't know anything about AML see here
https://eena.org/our-work/eena-special-focus/advanced-mobile-location/
It applies every time you dial 999/112 from a mobile in the UK.
What 3 Names
21 May 2021I'm puzzled by these repeated positional errors from W3W - the app presumably gets lat/lng from the device in a similar way to OS Locate. Is is simply a case of misheard/mistranscribed words?
Is this the path to…
23 May 2021#What 3 Names
Most of the rest of us aren't puzzled by repeated positional errors from W3W. The fact is, it's proved itself to be unfit for purpose by not working accurately 100% of the time.
Perhaps trying to re-invent or replace the wheel sounds like a good idea at the time but, and it's a very big but, the wheel works perfectly well as it is and doesn't need modified, and certainly doesn't need replaced. I suppose the same goes for trying to pin-point your position when out on the mountains. Good old fashioned grid reference works 100% of the time if used properly so why try to replace it.
A Canadian bloke
24 May 2021Our SAR team has successfully used ‘What 2 numbers’ for decades. It has worked great even with the multi-lingual community we serve.
Sonic
07 December 2021Further endorsement for what2numbers... It even lets you know if you're near to a position, since the numbers are close. Or go further away, and the difference becomes greater. Genius.
What's more, there are only ten digits needed (0-9) rather than 40,000 words and (at least in English) since pronouncing each digit sounds very different from the other nine digits, it's perfect for use over a poor phone line.
I also believe it's a widely-used standard rather than a closed proprietary system, so it'll last forever, rather than only until the investor cash runs dry.