In an unusual callout, we were asked to assist a dog walker whose dog had become stuck on a ledge at Kinder Downfall. The lady had spent three hours trying to retrieve the dog herself, without success, so called for help. We were able to deploy a fast party to locate the lady and dog, and assess the situation.

The weather was poor and the lady was extremely cold – she may not have survived the night without our intervention. After careful assessment of the situation, we decided to implement a full rope rescue to retrieve the dog. This involved carrying significant equipment to the Downfall and rigging it (helicopters were unavailable due to the low cloud base).

Happily, we were able to retrieve the dog. The lady, rescued dog and another three dogs were all walked down to the safety of our base.

The team retreated to bed at around 03:00 after an epic 7 hour callout.

• Time: 19:45
• Type: Mountain incident
• Location: Kinder Downfall
• Team members: 26
• Duration: 7 hours
• Volunteer hours: 182
• Total volunteer hours for the year: 634.75