Rescuers carry the black labrador from the fell. Photo: Keswick MRT
A dog was stretchered from a Lake District mountain after falling from a ridge.
Keswick Mountain Rescue Team was alerted at 3.05pm on Friday to a report that a labrador had fallen a considerable distance on the Scales Tarn side of Sharp Edge on Blencathra.
A team spokesperson said: “The dog’s owner as well as a couple of Penrith Mountain Rescue Team members, who were in the area, went to assist and improvised a stretcher to carry the dog down to the path.
“Keswick team met the party as the rain started and stretchered the dog down to the car park. From here the owner took the dog to the veterinary practice at Cockermouth for further checks and treatment.”
The incident lasted two hours and involved 10 Keswick MRT members and two from the Penrith team.
Keswick team volunteers had an early wake-up callout on Saturday to aid a man who suffered head injuries in a trip on the Scafell Pike massif.
Two men were heading up the Corridor Route between Sty Head and Scafell Pike to set up a safety rope on Broad Stand, above Mickledore on Sca Fell for a runner tackling the Bob Graham Round.
The spokesperson said: “One of the men tripped and fell on a tricky step sustaining head injuries.
“After some time and a check over from his mate, they deemed the injuries serious enough to warrant calling 999 and asking for mountain rescue help.
“The two started to make their way down towards Seathwaite. On receiving the callout a team member who lives in the valley quickly made his way up towards Styhead Tarn, somehow missing the two men.
“The next team member to arrive at Seathwaite found the casualty and his mate who had made it down to the valley. The rest of the team arrived and after a quick assessment transported the injured man back to Keswick for a rendezvous with the ambulance.”
The incident involved six team members and lasted just over 2¼ hours.
Ian512
20 June 2022It's perhaps time for Rescue Teams to make a financial charge for rescuing pets - remembering that many of the voluntary team members may be losing some of their own income while out on the hill.
a post on grough from Jimmy C earlier this month:
"I remember a friend telling me [over 40 years ago] how he walked about 12 miles with his injured dog on top of his rucksack and over his shoulders."
DENZIL BELL
21 June 2022So Ian if MRT charges for rescuing pets then why not charge people that are rescued and farmers for rescuing sheep? I have a Labrador but there are some places and Sharp Edge is one of them where I wouldn't take him but people have to make their own decisions I suppose.
Ian512
21 June 2022Denzil
Yes, 'people have to make their own decisions', but one of those decisions might be to ask how will 'I' deal with an injured pet.
I repeat, 'many of the voluntary team members may be losing some of their own income while out on the hill.'
Mountain Rescue should not be considered an RAC (or even an RSPCA) of the hills.
yamyam
21 June 2022Obviously not a dog owner .
Ian512
21 June 2022Just someone concerned about how we now 'use' volunteer Mountain Rescue team members.
OS survey in grough 2017:
“A total of 83 per cent of those questioned admitted that if they were in trouble on a mountain (with no phone signal) they wouldn’t know what to do.
While you can never eradicate accidents, we can at least as individuals take more responsibility in the hope preventing incidents."
Mark
24 June 2022The dog didn't wake up in the morning and decide to tackle sharp edge. It was perhaps more deserving of rescue than some humans.
MR ROY R SMART
22 July 2022I was walking two labradors on Salisbury Crags in Edinburgh a few years back and one of them smelt food right on the edge. She was not on the lead. In her attempt to get the food she fell over the crags down the rock face for about 200 feet. She survived the fall, and I met her walking down a path. The only injuries she had were cuts to her abdomen requiring stitches. Dogs are great survivors. Lesson learnt - keep dogs, especially labradors, on a lead anywhere near crags