Date: November 5, 2024
Start time: 19:00
Location: Cross Fell, North Pennines
Incident Types: Search
The team were notified of an solo walker who had become exhausted and unable to continue on his walk in the North Pennines. He was able to give a rough description of the route he’d taken following the Pennine Way but the team were unable to get an accurate location. Phone signal triangulation gave a rough location along with nearly a 10km² potential search area. Team members headed into the Pennines and searched the fellside, using the route description provided by the casualty to try and reduce the size of the area to be searched although this was hampered by thick cloud which reduced visibility to less than 5m at times. Colleagues from KSMRT and LDMRSDA came to assist through the night but by 5am teams had been withdrawn from the hill and more support from across the region had been requested. At dawn searching efforts restarted, assisted by more search dogs, drones, and a Coastguard Helicopter, although persistent low cloud restricted the ability of searchers still. Fortunately for the walker it had been an unseasonally mild and still night, so he had been able to stay warm and was able to continue walking once it was light. After several hours of walking, he came across a vehicle track and having updated the team was picked up shortly afterwards by members of a search party. He was checked over by a paramedic from LAMRT and was taken to a local B&B to recover.
Other Agencies Involved: Langdale and Ambleside MRT, Coniston MRT, Keswick MRT, Cockermouth MRT, Kirkby Stephen MRT, Wasdale MRT, Kendal MRT, Duddon and Furness MRT, SARDA, HM Coastguard
Number of team members: 22
Duration: 16 hours 40 minutes
