A young couple had started out on a walk on the Kinder plateau in the morning.  They had chosen to follow a popular route up from Edale, around the Edge path to the Downfall, then back across the plateau to Edale to catch their train home.

The route information had correctly described the stunning views available from the Downfall, but hadn’t explained how the path disappears as you start to cross the plateau and how difficult the ground conditions can be at this time of year.  The pair had managed to get a good part of the way across, but it was taking much longer than they expected in the muddy, boggy conditions.  This suddenly became a lot more serious when the girl became stuck up to her thighs in one of the peat bogs on the tops.  Her partner managed to pull her out, but she lost both boots in the process.  She bravely attempted to carry on, walking for another hour with only socks on her feet.  She finally succumbed to the cold, with soaked trousers and socks, no longer being able to feel her feet.  It was now dark and they realised they were stuck, so they called for our help.

They fortunately had mobile signal, so I was able to talk to them and get an exact location.  After realising their predicament we sent out a message to the team asking if anyone could rustle up a spare pair of size 6 walking boots.  My daughter kindly lent me her spare boots and we sent them up to her with one of our hill parties.  They were a long way in to the plateau, so they had to try and stay warm while they waited for us to get to them.  When we arrived, they were clearly very cold and wet.  We put them in a casualty shelter and started warming them up with hot drinks and jelly babies for energy.  We keep a stock of spare clothes and were able to give her something dry to wear along with an emergency Blizzard jacket and of course one of several pairs of boots which had now made it to the casualty site.  We were all pleased to see that she was able to warm up enough to walk back to our vehicles, as the alternative would have been a long stretcher carry going on until late at night.

They had both made an impressive attempt to get down under their own steam, but in the end made the correct decision to call us.

Alan Howarth

Kinder Team Leader

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

– Time: 17:10

– Type: Lost Walkers

– Location: Crowden Head, Kinder Scout

– Team members: 17

– Duration: 5 hours

– Volunteer hours: 85

– Total callout hours: 3945.5