Grow – Cragfast scrambler rescued from Striding Edge in seven-hour operation

Rescuers lower a stretcher down the wall. Photo: Patterdale MRT

Rescuers have come to the aid of a pedestrian who became ungainly while scrambling along Striding Edge.

Just before 4.30pm on Wednesday, police alerted Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team to an incident on Helvellyn.

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

A Patterdale MRT spokesman said: “The team leader contacted his partner and it became apparent that the casualty needed to be evacuated on a stretcher and the team was called.

“Due to their location at the far end of the Rim, halfway up the Helvellyn exit, and the condition of the victim, assistance from a Coastguard rescue helicopter was also requested. The rescue helicopter made several attempts to reach Red Tarn and the Grisedale Valley, but low cloud and lack of wind prevented it from winching or landing and it eventually returned to its base at Caernarfon.”

Team members reached the woman and her partner at about 6.30pm and assessed her condition before packing her into a stretcher for the long descent along the south-eastern end of Helvellyn Peak above the Red Tarn.

Once below, the stretcher was carried, sledded and wheeled around the tarn and then down to Greenside Mines.

The rescue lasted seven hours and involved 13 team volunteers.