Rescuers at the scene on Striding Edge. Photo: Patterdale MRT

An injured walker was winched from Striding Edge after falling about 30 feet.

A Coastguard helicopter flew to the scene on Helvellyn on Saturday afternoon.

Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team had just been alerted to a woman with an ankle injury on Heron Pike above Ullswater, when a second call for help came in.

A 24-year-old man had fallen from Striding Edge on England’s third-highest mountain.

A Patterdale MRT spokesperson said: “Due the potential serious nature of the Helvellyn incident, the team asked for assistance from Penrith Mountain Rescue Team to handle the first incident, so that resources could be redirected.

“Strong winds, heavy rain and poor visibility meant that an air ambulance had to turn back before reaching Helvellyn, and assistance from a Coastguard helicopter was also requested.

“The Helvellyn casualty was located below Striding Edge in the area of the ‘bad step’, having fallen approximately 10m down towards Red Tarn.”

Once rescuers reached the scene, the man casualty was treated for back, pelvis and ankle injuries. He was given pain relief, placed in a full body splint, packaged in a casualty bag and strapped into a stretcher.

The spokesperson said: “Once on the stretcher he was hoisted back onto the ridge where, during a weather window, the Coastguard helicopter was able to winch him onboard. Two companions of the casualty were then walked off the hill, having become cold and mildly hypothermic.”

Meanwhile, the Penrith team, aided by members of Kirkby Stephen MRT, had reached the woman with the ankle injury on Heron Pike. She was placed in a stretcher and caried back to the valley to rendezvous with an ambulance at Glencoyne.

The two rescues took six hours and involved 13 members of Patterdale MRT, nine members from Penrith MRT, two Kirkby Stephen team members and a Coastguard helicopter crew.