Incident number 9 of 2021:-
15/05/2021, 16.55, Wetherlam, NY290013
It was a drizzly and cloudy afternoon, and the rocks were slippery. A lady, descending Wetherlam’s north-east ridge, slipped on a sloping section of rock and hurt her hip. She was unable to walk, and called for help. Cumbria Police asked us to assist, and we despatched 3 Land Rovers to Tilberthwaite, which is as close as we can get to Wetherlam on wheels. The walk up to the NE ridge takes time, and the lady was cold on our arrival. After assessment and pain relief, the nature of her hip injury and the distance to carry made a helicopter extraction the best course of action.
HM Coastguard’s Rescue 936 from Caernarfon arrived, and after a short carry down on our stretcher we were all ready to winch her when cloud enveloped the hill, and the helicopter crew asked us to continue descending. After an awkward carry, we got below cloud and the helicopter was able to extract her successfully. She was flown to Walney Island airfield for the short transfer to Furness General.
17 volunteer members attended this incident, which took 4 hours.
