Rescuers lower the stretcher down the headwall. Photo: Patterdale MRT

Rescuers went to the aid of a walker who became cragfast while scrambling on Striding Edge.

Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team was alerted by police shortly before 4.30pm on Wednesday to the incident on Helvellyn.

The team said the woman had an underlying medical condition and became stuck while tackling the route with her partner.

A Patterdale MRT spokesperson said: “The team leader contacted their partner and it became evident the casualty required a stretcher evacuation and the team were called out.

“Due to their location at the far end of the Edge, part way up the exit ramp onto Helvellyn, and the casualty’s condition, the assistance of a Coastguard rescue helicopter was also requested. The rescue helicopter made several attempts to access Red Tarn and the Grisedale Valley but low cloud and the lack of wind prevented it from winching or landing, and eventually it returned to its base at Caernarfon.”

Team members reached the woman and her partner about 6.30pm and assessed her condition before packing her in a stretcher for a protracted lowering down the south-east end of the Helvellyn headwall above Red Tarn.

Once at the bottom, the stretcher was carried, sledged and wheeled around the tarn and then down to Greenside Mines.

The rescue lasted seven hours and involved 13 team volunteers.