We received a call from a group of fell runners who had been on an early morning 25k run around the Kinder plateau, starting and finishing in Edale. One of their group had pulled up with a groin strain half way around the run and had decided to walk down. He agreed that the others would carry on and he would make his way back at a slower pace. However after a few hours he hadn’t turned up and the rest of the group were now concerned for his welfare. Unfortunately the missing runner was now out of mobile signal so couldn’t be contacted.
After discussing the events with the informant, it was very unclear where the runner had split from the group and we didn’t know which way he was heading off the hill. He may have headed down the Snake Path to the Snake Pass road as this was the shortest route out, but he may also have attempted to finish the route over the plateau, back to Edale. Also the missing runner hadn’t asked for help at this point and didn’t know anyone would be looking for him.
As it was still only lunchtime and the weather was clearing for the afternoon, we decided to give him time to make his way down before calling out the team. We sent him a PhoneFind text message, as this service has the advantage of not only being able to send his location when he replies, but it also tells us when the message has been delivered and therefore acts as an alert for when his phone has come back in to signal.
After a couple of hours he still hadn’t turned up, then just as we were considering a full team deployment, his phone came back in to signal and we also received a call from the original informant to say that the runner was safe and well and back at his vehicle.
Not all calls to the team result in a full deployment. We consider many factors and sometimes, if the risk are low, we give the missing person every chance to become unlost by themselves.
Kinder Mountain Rescue Team is staffed by volunteers who give their time free of charge and is funded entirely by public donations.
https://www.justgiving.com/kmrt
Alan Howarth
Team Leader
- Time: 12:20
- Type: Mountain Incident
- Location: Somewhere on Kinder Scout
- Team members: 1
- Duration: 2 hours
- Volunteer hours: 2
- Total hours: 2485