Two adult brothers were enjoying a walk on Kinder in beautiful winter conditions clear skies and around -5 degrees. They had set off in good time and were making good progress until one of them sustained a significant ankle injury around Kinder Downfall. Heroically, with the help of his brother, he hobbled as far as the top of Sandy Heys. He then sat and slid down most of the top steep part of the descent. However, the pain became too much and they called for help.

Whilst they were waiting for us, two extremely competent fell runners came across them and helped. They recognised the hypothermia risk and one of them took the well brother down to Hayfield to safety, before running back up the casualty. They were able to provide the casualty with extra warm clothing and waiting with him until the team arrived.

Kinder 1 walked up Sandy Heys with vacuum splints and a big, warm stretcher sleeping bag. They were able to locate and treat the casualty with pain relief, a splint and warming. Kinder 2 and Kinder 3 took the stretcher up Sandy Heys. We loaded the casualty onto the stretcher and began the evacuation by sledging the stretcher down the rest of the steep section, using a backup rope for extra safety. Once we completed the upper steep section we put the stretcher on the wheel and evacuated the remainder of Sandy Heys and along the side of Kinder reservoir to our team vehicles waiting at the Filter House.

The casualty was driven back to base where he was transferred to the waiting EMAS ambulance and met up with various family members. We wish him a speedy recovery.

A huge thank you to the two fell runners who provided huge help in this rescue.

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: 17:30

– Type: Mountain Incident

– Location: Sandy Heys, Kinder Scout

– Team members: 17

– Duration: 5 hours

– Volunteer hours on this incident: 85 hours

– Total callout hours in 2026: 85 hours 48 minutes