What started as a relatively straightforward job suddenly became very complicated.  We were called to help  a pair of walkers on the southern edge path.  One of them had aggravated her knee, was in significant pain and was unable to continue.

We deployed two parties in our Land Rovers up the Edale Cross track.  However, this is where things started to get a bit more complicated.  Half way up the track, Mobile 1 hit a sharp rock which ripped a hole in the sidewall of the tyre.  This gave us a significant problem.  Mobile 1 was the furthest vehicle up the track and was now preventing any of our other vehicles from getting past.  We took the decision to temporarily abandon it, so that Kinder 1 could continue on foot with the stretcher.  We sent Kinder 2 up on foot from where Mobile 1 had been left, which meant Kinder 3 had the task of trying to swap the wheel on Mobile 1.  Not an easy task on rough ground.

By now Kinder 1 had reached the lady, who was complaining of serious pain in her knee and ankle.  It was looking like we would need to evacuate her using a stretcher and that we would possibly need to carry her down to where Mobile 1 was currently stranded.  Both her and her sister were very cold, so would need warming before we could start an evacuation.

While we treating and warming the first pair of casualties, we were approached by another pair of walkers.  One of them was being carried, as she had just  had a medical episode and was now weak and unable to walk. It was quickly apparent that she would need a stretcher evacuation as well.  Given that we now had three casualties, two of which would likely need a stretcher evacuation and the low cloud wouldn’t allow a helicopter to get in, we took the decision to call our colleagues in Buxton Mountain Rescue team to help us out.  The idea would be that if we couldn’t use the Edale Cross track, we could stretcher both casualties down in to Edale.

However we suddenly received two pieces of good news.  Kinder 3 had manged to swap the wheel on Mobile1, so the track was now open again and our first casualty had responded well to the analgesia we had administered and would now be able to slowly walk back to our vehicles once they arrived at Edale Cross.

We reverted to Plan A and stood Buxton team down.  Casualty 1 and 2 walked back to our vehicles and the Casualty 3 was evacuated by stretcher.

Our thanks go to Buxton team for backing us up on what turned out to be a very complex and fast changing job.

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: 14:20

– Type: Mountain Incident

– Location: Edale Rocks, Kinder Scout

– Team members: 26

– Duration: 4.5 Hours

– Volunteer hours on this incident: 117 hours

– Total callout hours in 2025: 4255.7 hours