Team members accompanied the walker to the valley. Photo: Keswick MRT
An elderly walker celebrating his birthday with an ascent of Blencathra was brought to safety after getting lost near the mountain’s summit in bad visibility.
Keswick Mountain Rescue Team was alerted about 4.05pm on Thursday after the man reported he was disoriented in low cloud.
The team used the PhoneFind system to pinpoint his position and directed him to an exit path from the summit, using his compass.
A team spokesperson said: “However with intermittent phone reception and with fading light the team felt it prudent to send out a small team to meet him on his descent.
“It turns out it was the man’s 78th birthday and he had treated himself to a walk up the mountain. After wishing him a happy birthday he was accompanied down to the car park.”
The incident lasted almost 2¾ hours and involved six volunteers from Keswick MRT.
Notatouristjustnotalocal
14 January 2022No doubt the usual crew will be on herd soon to comment on how this could have been easily avoidable. He should pay for the callout etc... or will the age and birthday doesn't save him from their ire...
I look forwards to finding out.
Pleased it ended well, I hope he enjoyed his Birthday misadventure and enjoyed the company on the walk down.
Chris Goode
15 January 2022—hoho I’m with you Mr. Getting older … there’s quite a few of us around who love walking/climbing. We may be older but we are wiser —healthy too and intend staying that way.
Good luck to all of us older folk who carry rucksacks on us backs . We all understand the mountain rules and really just take advantage of those lovely sunny & quiet weather winter days. On bitter cold and wintry days we're staying close to our firesides while planning our next day out on the glorious fells.
Chris Goode —Cockermouth
John Trodden
15 January 2022#Notatouristjustnotalocal you sound like a bundle of laughs.
Anyway, what's wrong with people saying those thing when most of the time they're right.
Mike V
16 January 2022From what the article says, It seems as though this elderly chap's navigation had been thrown a curve-ball by bad visibility setting in. - he had a compass with him, (and so hopefully a map as well) so presumably he was at least fairly well experienced.
I'm no spring chicken myself, and I've been in similar situations in the past - you you know roughly where you are, and consequently you aren't closely keeping tabs on your exact location, and then all of a sudden, down comes the mist - and then it doesn't matter whether you have a map and compass or not. If you don't know exactly where you are, you can't set a proper bearing.
It sounds like he was content to follow the bearing given to him by MRT, but in this instance they chose to intercept him to make certain all was well.
I'll forever be a map and compass man, but these days I always carry a dedicated GPS as back-up - just in case.
Hopefully this chap will learn from the experience - and maybe invest in a GPS for himself (As long as you have the map and compass skills to interpret what they are showing you, a GPS unit can be the difference between finding your own way off the hill or. as in this case, having to contact MRT)
I wish this chap well, and hope that the experience hasn't put him off fellwalking.
And I take my hat off once again the the MRT volunteers.
They do an incredible job - with satisfaction being the only reward!
Andrew L
17 January 2022I agree with the first comment that this was avoidable and therefore he should have to pay for the rescue.
What I don't agree with, is that the stupidity was due to his age.
OldManOfTheHills
30 January 2022I have been befogged twice in 50 years and unable to find the path and thus came down the wrong side of the hill or mountain as the fall back option.
As others have said, once you lose exact reference it is hard to navigate away.
Of course GPS on phone is a backup but phones are notorious for battery fade in the cold so no guarantee in winter. GPS however saved us a long detour coming off creag meagaidh in a whiteout blizzard 2 winters ago.
I am in my early 70s and intend to continue up mountains rain, shine, or preferably snow.
I dont know enough about the rescued persons preparation to be able to judge.
I hope I and my dearest never ever need the MRT but if we do their stalwart help will be gratefully received.
Heres to the MRT