Almost 80 years after its discovery, a large shell from the ornate Marsoulas Cave in the Pyrenees has been studied by a multidisciplinary team: it is believed to be the oldest wind instrument of its type.
North Yorkshire Police requested CRO’s assistance after they found a missing person (Sadly, deceased.) at the foot of Malham Cove. Team members searched an area at the top of the Cove for personal effects and carried the deceased by stretcher, th…
Along with representatives of all the other MRTs operating across the County, CRO’s ‘Silver’ reps were alerted to a flooding forecast (‘Storm Christoph’) through the North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum. They put the Org…
A four-year study concludes that the fungal disease, white-nose syndrome, poses a severe threat to many western North American bats.
A walker (m, 24) called for help, saying he was stranded on the summit of Whernside, couldn’t find his way off and couldn’t breathe, because of his asthma. A small group of CRO members set off on foot and a controller telephoned the ‘…
Two visitors (m, f), walking from Clapham, reached the summit shelter on Ingleborough, but were unable to find the way off at dusk, in low cloud and on trampled snow and ice. A small team drove to the top of Fell Lane, Ingleton, then continued up on fo…
Just me today. Some spoil management required, the morning spent trying to extricate my boots from especially glutinous mud!
A low turnout for the first digging session of 2021 but, not wholly unexpected. The UK government has imposed more corona-virus pandemic restrictions, that includes an ever-fluctuating and rather confusing “Tier” system. And, the weather is not great, temperatures are just about at freezing point or below and the roads are icy. As a follow […]
A walker (f, 50) slipped on steep, frozen ground, sustaining a suspected ankle fracture. The first team members on scene kept her warm until others arrived. Then, after being given pain relief and attention from a YAS paramedic and team doctor, she was…
Lancashire Constabulary asked CRO to investigate a request for help when a man and two small children became stranded in their car on Lythe Fell (on the High Bentham to Slaidburn road, 8 km / 5 miles South of High Bentham). The duty controller confirme…
Part of the attraction of caving for me is pitting myself against nature and these 5 caving trips are amongst the most technically difficult trips I’ve done in my thirty plus years of cave exploration.Completing each trip in the knowledge that I’m one …
Vince, Brockers, Jake, Nick. and Duncan. Boxing Day digging session, Nick and Duncan were up front, although I expect Nick did the vast majority of the digging. Jake was at the junction, I was at the bottom of the entrance, Brockers did the hauling on the surface. I did offer to rotate places with Brockers […]
A friend reported a solo Three Peaks walker (m, 44) ‘lost . . . . cold, alone and disorientated . . . . with minimum food and not appropriately dressed . . . . approximately 500m from the top of Ingleborough and now lost’. T…
YAS asked for CRO’s assistance when a walker (f, 70) was reported to have fallen at the top of Malham Cove. Although she had sustained a painful shoulder injury, she was determined to set off to walk back down the steps at the side of the Cove, w…
A motorist called NYP when he and his partner became stuck in the first snow of the winter on the road to Deepdale/Dentdale, above Kingsdale Head. A small CRO team, in a Land Rover, soon recovered them and a supermarket delivery van. ‘CRO makes i…
As members were back at Clapham, cleaning the Whernside mud from equipment, a further call was received. A member of a family party (f, 13) was reported to have separated from her parents on Blea Moor at about 14.30. When the parents returned to their …
A walker (f, 14) slipped, then tumbled five or six metres down the steep path, where it leaves the Whernside summit ridge towards Bruntscar, sustaining head and possible elbow injuries. After assessment and treatment by a team doctor, she was ‘pa…
NYP asked for assistance in finding someone, believed to be at risk, missing in the Airton area since about 15.40. However, just as the first team member arrived on scene, police officers found her ‘safe and well’, so team members stood dow…
Bowland Pennine MRT asked for CRO’s support when they found themselves short-handed on the way to an incident in Gisburn Forest. A cyclist (m, 30) had come off his mountain bike, sustaining a shoulder injury. However, as a CRO controller was text…
Mendip Cave Rescue received a SARCALL message from Avon and Somerset Police at 01:31 on 19th November 2020 on behalf of their colleagues from Wiltshire Police (who don’t currently use SARCALL) for an incident at Box Stone Mines, concerning a group of 4…
A walker (f, ) slipped on the steep (temporary diversion) path on the Chapel-le-Dale side of Ingleborough, sometime after 15.00 hrs. As neither the injured person nor her father could get a signal on their mobile phones, a passer-by called 999 and aske…
Mendip Cave Rescue were called by Avon and Somerset Police via SARCALL at 20:50 on 5th November 2020, concerning an overdue party visiting Single Way mine at Bathampton. Whilst MCR wardens were preparing to respond, further information came through tha…
Mega-droughts – droughts that last two decades or longer – are tipped to increase thanks to climate change, according to new research.
When startled, do all fish respond the same way? A few fish, like Mexican cavefish, have evolved in unique environments without any predators. To see how this lack of predation impacts escape responses that are highly stereotyped across fish species, s…
A call was received from North Yorkshire Police to a report of a walker (f) who had sustained a lower leg injury. Although with 3 companions, and able to walk slowly with assistance, they requested help due to the distance back to their vehicle, and th…
Cumbria Police were contacted by the wife of a caver who was apparently overdue after setting off to do a through trip from Lancaster Hole to Wretched Rabbit. Having passed the call to the team, neither the Police nor team controllers were able to call…
Vince, Nick, Jake, Jon and Brockers. After some discussion at the entrance me and Nick went along to the “Cold Gnarly North” while Jake, Jon and Brockers returned to the “Sunny South West”. We had decided to revisit the “Cold Gnarly North” to retrieve the empty packs of bags, tools and other sundry items including […]
With Brockers, Jake, Jon, and Nick. The winter migration to the ‘Sunny South West’ continued. We had a plan, well, more of a cobbled together idea really that came to fruition. Brockers sourced a generator, Jake brought along his 110v Hilti breaker, there were cables a plenty and everything was carried up the hill to […]
A group of five walkers (m 48; m, f, f, f, all 20/21), having started the Three Peaks Walk in Horton in Ribblesdale at 04.00, reached Chapel le Dale at 16.00, then climbed Ingleborough as their last peak, but reported themselves lost on the descent. NY…
With Jake, Jon, and Nick. A mellow morning digging session back in the “Sunny South-West” passage. We had spent quite some time enlarging this passage only to put it on the ‘back-burner’ in favour of the “Cold Gnarly North”. Nick was poked into the rather constricted end and left to his own devices in an […]
Having taken the temporary diversion path to Ingleborough from Chapel le dale, two walkers (m 37, f 34) reported themselves unable to descend, because of the steepness and apparent instability of the fell-side. The Duty Controller persuaded them to con…
As a few team members were involved in incident no 68, a second call came in from a walker concerned about a group of five Three Peaks walkers (3 x m, 2 x f) he believed to be cold and struggling on the descent from Ingleborough. They turned up in Hor…
A Three Peaks walker (m) was reported overdue. He had last been seen, ‘flagging’, on the summit of Whernside at 12.40, when he told his companions that he would not be walking over Ingleborough but would return to the start in Horton in Rib…
Mendip Cave Rescue held a surface training session at Fairy Cave Quarry on Sunday the 27th September 2020. 17 MCR wardens enjoyed a day in the sunshine, whilst practising hauling and rigging techniques, rock splitting and lifting, and some casualty fir…
Mendip Cave Rescue were called by Avon and Somerset Police via SARCALL at 10:50 on 9th September 2020 for an incident in Wookey Hole Caves in Wookey Hole. A male visitor in his 80s was complaining of breathing difficulties during the show cave tour. So…
A walker made a 999 call to North Yorkshire Police, saying that her companion had fallen and was injured, while they (f, f) were walking the Three Peaks. Before any more information could be passed, the call ceased and the NYP Force Control Room was un…
With Brockers, Jake, Jon, and Nick. Missed last weekend (5th-6th September) as I was excavating at Bagpit with Professor Danielle Schreve and Ali Moody to extract some Pleistocene animal bones, mainly aurochsen and horse. This meant that there was nothing to clear this weekend. A bit of a re-assessment at the current end of the […]
The team were called to Horton Moor again on Saturday, to a walker (f,32) who had become disoriented and lost trying to return to Horton in Lonsdale from Pen-y-ghent. The walker was located by team members using the phonefind facility, in an area of ve…
Vince, Brockers, Jake, Duncan and, another late show by Nick (it is becoming a habit!). The usual thing, up to the end, check all was good and start clearing the debris. All the loose material loaded directly into the skip to be bagged elsewhere. Some hammer and chisel work removed fractured rock from the walls. […]
*** Under the circumstances with the recent government announcement and the growth in cases of coronavirus this meeting has been cancelled ***
As agreed at the last MCR meeting, the next MCR meeting will be held on Tuesday 17th March at the Hunters Lo…
Alan Gray, the Secretary of Mendip Cave Registry and Archive, has been collating reports of all caving rescue and incidents located in the Mendip Cave Rescue region, from early reports of an incident in Pen Park Hole in 1669 through to the current day….
Very soon after members returned home from incident number 58, a call was received to a visitor (f, 39) who had sustained a suspected ankle injury on the return half of the Ingleton Watefalls Trail. A hasty search by the first team members on scene at …
A walker (f, 45) landed heavily, coming off a stile in Malham’s ‘Dry Valley’ and sustained a suspected broken ankle. With no signal on her party’s mobile phone, another walker used his phone to call 999, for an ambulance. Unfort…
A visitor (m, 25), with a medical condition, collapsed just after the steps at the top of Malham Cove. Arriving first, the air ambulance paramedics assessed the patient, then handed him over to team members, who walked him gently across to Cove Road, w…
Mendip Cave Rescue were called by Avon and Somerset Police to an incident at St Cuthbert’s Swallet, Priddy at 18:31 on Sunday 1st March 2020, following a group of 5 cavers being reported overdue from their trip. On inspection it became clear that the c…
Mendip Cave Rescue were called by Avon and Somerset Police at 14:00 to attend a caving incident in Rods Pot, above Burrington Combe. The initial report indicated a single casualty who had sustained a knee injury as a result of a slip whilst on the retu…
With Brockers, Jake, Jon, and a later appearance by Nick. At the end of Cold Gnarly North, all was as it should have been. To save time I got on with the clearing of debris, hammer and chiselling the fractured rock from the walls as well. The “eye-hole” has been opened enough to get a […]
To celebrate 25 million views of Caver Keith Videos on YouTube I have uploaded a shortened version of one of my most talked about films.The Caving Corset
CRO were called to help with an incident in Bar Pot – part of the Gaping Gill cave system under the slopes of Ingleborough. A caver (F 14yo) had fallen about 2.5 metres whilst abseiling down the first pitch of Bar Pot. The caver had landed heavil…
It’s been a bit hectic lately and haven’t had the time to update the blog until now. 15th August 2020 Vince, Jon, Jake, Duncan, Brockers and Nick. Might be under some time pressure today as the Hunter’s has re-opened at last. As expected, the main topic of conversation at the farm was – the pub’s […]
Three hours after completing incident number 51 we returned to Ingleton waterfalls walk to give help to a 32 year old woman. She had slipped on a wet rock and banged her head; she was reported to us as being confused and not being able to remember what…
A ten year old boy slipped and fell circa 3 metres on a steep grassy slope above the refreshments cabin near Pecca Falls, on the Ingleton waterfalls walk. During his tumble he had banged his head and also said that he had hurt his knees. The boy was ch…
A visitor (f, 55) was reported to be suffering from heat exhaustion, with complications, on the Ingleton Waterfalls Trail, ‘near Beezley Farm’. The first team vehicle was able to follow the road ambulance all the way to the casualty site on…
As team vehicles were returning from Malham, a visitor on the Ingleton Waterfalls Trail expressed concern that his wife (72 and diabetic) was feeling faint and dizzy and was sweating. He suspected low sugar levels. Returning team members were diverted …
A visitor (f) was reported to have fallen, at the foot of the Malham Cove steps and was complaining of pain in her side and neck. As team members responded, this was updated to back and neck pain with numbness in her legs. After attention from YAS para…
Subsurface cavities created by lava on Mars and the Moon could provide a shield against cosmic radiation, new research suggests.
Four Three Peaks walkers (all f) called NYP, saying that they were ‘lost’ on the descent from Ingleborugh towards Horton in Ribblesdale, despite being able to describe the signpost on their path (‘Horton 2 miles’) and provide a …
Male 12 yr old, fallen and twisted his knee on the steps to the side of Malham Cove, couldn’t bend or straighten it, the team splinted and stretchered him to a waiting CRO vehicle and transported him down into Malham, where the young lad was tran…
Vince, Brockers, Jon, Tav and a late appearance by Nick. At the current end of Cold Gnarly North, checked to make sure all was good before the morning’s activities got underway, quite a lot of gravel had had been ejected along the approach and needed tidying. Tav followed me up for a gander but declined […]
A Three Peaks walker (m, 56) collapsed on the path to Pen y ghent, above Brackenbottom Scar. Although he seemed still to be confused, three other walkers – all nurses – abandoned their own walk and assisted him back down to the road and han…
