Incident reports

A camper stranded on Nethermost Pike during a winter storm was rescued by Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team on 11 January 2026. The casualty was found in a collapsed tent suffering from hypothermia risk due to extreme wind and snow conditions. The 10-hour operation involved 28 team members from Patterdale and Penrith MRT, with Coastguard helicopter support standing down as the casualty was safely brought off the fell.

Outcome: casualty evacuated safely by foot with MRT assistance

Outcome: The two walkers were found uninjured but hypothermic and required assistance before being assessed as fit to walk down the hill.

The team attended an incident where a female was found on a muddy track after sustaining a fall and suspected leg injury. Following assessment at the scene, she was splinted for a deformed ankle and then safely stretchered to the road head for handover to paramedics.

Outcome: Transported to medical professionals

The team was called out to assist with a stretcher carry from the summit of Ingleborough down to Chapel le Dale due to two walkers experiencing difficulties in atrocious weather. Despite initial requests for air support being unsuccessful due to severe conditions, both casualties were safely evacuated by ground crew and handed over to the ambulance service.

Outcome: Both casualties safely evacuated

The rescue was requested for a runner who was found to be hypothermic while undertaking the Spine Race on the Spine Race route. Although the safety team managed to access the casualty with a vehicle, the mountain rescue team responded to support the effort near Hawes.

Outcome: Casualty safely managed by other services

Mountain rescue teams responded to a callout on the upper slopes of Haytor Rocks after a female walker sustained a suspected lower leg fracture following a fall. Despite challenging conditions including darkness, gale-force winds, and heavy rain, the casualty was assessed, splinted, and safely transported back to the car park.

Outcome: Transported from scene

Outcome: Discharged after assessment and monitoring.

Penrith Mountain Rescue Team responded to two incidents in early January 2026. First, they assisted in a multi-agency search for a missing person in the Howgill Fells near Sedbergh on 9–10 January, involving 16 team members and a search dog overnight. Second, on 11 January they were called to assist with a casualty on Dollywagon Pike, but the casualty was able to walk off the fell unaided, avoiding a stretcher evacuation in adverse weather.

Outcome: missing person search stood down; casualty walked off fell unaided

The team assisted the Lake District Search & Mountain Rescue Association with an ongoing search for a high-risk missing person over the 9th and 10th of January 2026. Although mountain rescuers and search dogs were provided by Bowland Pennine MRT, the individual remained outstanding after the nominated search area was completed.

Outcome: Unsuccessful (Person still missing)

Search and rescue teams were deployed during Storm Gorretti to locate a high-risk missing person in Exeter. The operation was stood down once the individual was found outside of the designated search area.

Outcome: Person located

Mountain rescue teams responded to several vehicles stranded on a mountain road near Llangynidr due to severe winter conditions brought by Storm Goretti. The team established a rendezvous point and evacuated the occupants to a local village for warmth and recovery.

Outcome: Occupants safely evacuated to a local village.

Two teenagers required a rescue after becoming trapped in waist-high snow conditions on An Teallach. The operation lasted nine hours and was successfully completed by the Dundonnell Mountain Rescue Team.

Outcome: Rescued safely

A rescue callout was made to a stranded vehicle in the Whitaside area on 7 January 2026. The team responding from a previous job were able to attend and safely escort the occupants of this second vehicle to a team transport vehicle heading to Reeth.

Outcome: All occupants safely transported

The team was called out to Middleham Bridge following concerns that an individual may have entered the water. After deploying resources for a bankside search, it was later confirmed by a member of the public that the person had returned home safely.

Outcome: Person found safe and well

A rescue was required for a family that had become trapped on sheet ice on a steep bank in a remote area between Swaledale and Wensleydale. Fifteen team members were deployed to the scene, where the vehicle was located and the family was safely escorted down for recovery.

Outcome: Safe recovery

A team was called out to assist a female walker who had fallen near Black Hill and sustained a shoulder injury, leaving her unable to move. Following location confirmation, vehicles and a team doctor were dispatched, and she and her partner were safely brought back to the road head for an ambulance.

Outcome: Transported from scene

Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team responded to two incidents on 6 January. A casualty in their seventies slipped on frozen ground at Aira Force and injured their hip, requiring evacuation by stretcher to hospital. Shortly after, the team attended a two-vehicle collision on Kirkstone Pass in snowy conditions, where one occupant with chest pains was treated and cleared after assessment.

Outcome: casualty from Aira Force evacuated to hospital; casualty with chest pains treated and cleared to hotel

Patterdale Mountain Rescue assisted following a road traffic collision on snow-covered Kirkstone Pass on 6 January 2026, when a car lost control descending the pass and was struck by a second vehicle. One occupant reported chest pains and was assessed by paramedics at the rescue base; after medical clearance they were taken to their hotel. The team's Land Rovers transported the occupants safely down the hazardous pass.

Outcome: casualty assessed and cleared by paramedics, transported to hotel

The team responded to a callout after an individual sustained an injury following a fall at Aira Force. Rescuers found the casualty near the waterfall, noting that recent rainfall and frozen ground had made paths very slippery. The person was treated on site before being evacuated by stretcher.

Outcome: Transported to hospital for further treatment

Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Organisation responded to two separate incidents on Sunday evening in Eryri during heavy snow conditions. A disoriented walker was found sheltered in the summit cairn of Y Garn, and exhausted walkers on Moel Siabod were assisted, with rescue teams managing difficult descents through waist-high snow drifts.

Outcome: casualties assisted and safely descended