Having descended through Lower Long Churn into Alum Pot, a caver (m, 38) fell a distance of up to 5 or 6m from the bottom pitch, sustaining suspected injuries to ankle, femur, lower back and chest. CRO members descended to the casualty, assessed his in…
A caver (m, 54), on an exchange trip from Lancaster Hole to Cow Pot, slipped from the traverse in Bridge Hall, sustaining a slight head injury and knocking himself out briefly on landing. A loose rock also fell, landing on the caver’s wrist, caus…
A caver (m, 53) was reported to be suffering from exhaustion and unable to continue in Stream Passage Pot. His party of seven or eight (?) left one member with him, exited the pot and called for CRO. As team members were organising to go assist, the tw…
As readers of the CRO annual incident report, Rescue ’22, may recall, some of our members have been working with colleagues from the Upper Wharfedale Fell Rescue Association and volunteers from Mosaic (the organisation which aims to connect …
Two of the cave divers who pulled off the remarkable rescue of 13 people from a flooded cave system in Thailand have been given honorary degrees by the University of Bristol. The operation led by John Volanthen, from Bristol, and Rick Stanton, from Coventry, has been described as one of the greatest rescues of all…
CRO were called out by Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS) to assist them with an incident about half a mile along the Pennine Bridleway from the road head at Clay Pits Plantation. When CRO arrived we found that YAS had been able to drive their off-road …
Three cavers (m,22; f,21; m,21) were reported overdue on a Peterson Pot to Pippikin Pot through trip (with Mistral Hole as an alternative early exit, if short of time). Having sent a PhoneFind text and confirmed that their car was at Bull Pot Farm, the…
A caver (m, 38) fell about 8m, sustaining multiple injuries in the cave complex of Ogof Ffynnon Ddu, near Penwyllt, at the head of the Swansea Valley, South Wales, at lunchtime on Saturday. South & Mid-Wales Cave Rescue Team, realising the potentia…
A massive effort is underway to rescue a caver injured in a fall on Saturday in Ogof Ffynnon Ddu (OFD) in South Wales, the deepest and third longest cave system in Britain. The caver is believed to have fallen on Saturday. A fellow caver initiated the call out, and rescue teams from around the country…
A farmer had seen one of his sheep, apparently stranded on a ledge of Mealbank Quarry, on Sunday. He kept trying to tempt it back to safety by shaking a bag of sheep nuts, but eventually asked for CRO’s assistance. A small team set up an abseil, …
A visitor (f, 20) slipped, while about 300m into White Scar Cave, sustaining a lower leg injury. Show cave staff assessed and treated the casualty’s injured leg, but were unable to evacuate her from the cave. Having splinted her leg, CRO team me…
A walker (m 55) phoned for help, saying that he had collapsed, felt weak and had a pain radiating from the upper left hand side of his chest. He had been walking alone and CRO was able to confirm the walker’s “off-piste” location at t…
The Thai cave rescue had everyone on the edge of their seats as what might have been the grimmest reality TV show ever was played out in the full spotlight of the world’s media. In Rick Stanton’s eagerly awaited autobiography, you can now read the inside story of the rescue and understand how Rick’s caving…
UWFRA forwarded an alert from North Yorkshire Police regarding two Three Peaks walkers who had become separated from a bigger group after losing the path on Ingleborough. Reportedly, they had made their 999 call from a mobile phone with 1% battery. Whe…
YAS called CRO following a report that a child (m, 8) had a leg injury and was on the ‘side of a cliff, waterfall at bottom, halfway up on rocky verge, stuck unable to get down, equivalent of 4 floors up’. With other members on stand-by and…
A sport cyclist (m, 18) landed badly from a home-made ‘jump’, complaining of rib, face, shoulder and back pain. Arriving at the accident site, the YAS paramedics asked for CRO’s assistance and equipment, in order to immobilise the cas…
A walker (f, 23) twisted an ankle on rough and boggy terrain, so that she was unable to put weight on the injured leg. A companion rang the Police for help and CRO team members responded. After assessment by a team doctor, the patient was stretchered t…
Yorkshire CRO have warned of a potentially lethal rockfall in Wretched Rabbit on Casterton Fell.
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 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…
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…
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…
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…
Following the announcement of the new lockdown measures, the Council of Southern Caving Clubs (CSCC) and Mendip Cave Rescue (MCR) have issued a joint statement to southern cavers. This statement has also been endorsed by the Charterhouse Caving Company Ltd and the Fairy Cave Quarry Management Committee.
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
A walker (f, 68) took a fall, high on the path from the summit of Whernside towards Bruntscar, sustaining an apparent head injury. By chance, an off-duty paramedic (also a member of a neighbouring mountain rescue team) was walking nearby and was able …
Here we go with our latest round-up of news and views from around the world. If you see anything you think we might have missed, do drop us a line. Many thanks to Herman de Swart for his continued support sending in links! Cave Art Ancient Origins: Ancient Cave Found in Egypt with Unique Predynastic…
A walker (f, 59) slipped on wet limestone, at the edge of Malham Beck, at the foot of the Cove, sustaining a suspected mid-shaft fracture of her left femur. YAS paramedics administered pain relief, then immobilised the limb and CRO members stretchered …
A visitor (m) was reported to be ‘fallen and injured at top of waterfall at Malham Tarn’. It was further reported that he had gone for a walk on his own and was missing for a couple of hours before family members found him. There was no rep…
A walker (m) was reported to have fallen, sustaining a suspected head injury, in the Watlowes (‘Dry Valley’), above Malham Cove. The YAS paramedics on the air ambulance, arriving first, assessed the patient and began walking him up the step…
One of the oldest and largest cave rescue teams in the country has put out an urgent plea for fundraising help to modernise important kit. Several of the South & Mid Wales Cave Rescue Team members played important parts in the Thai cave rescue and the team has helped in mining disasters, searched for missing persons and…
A report was received of a sheep ‘stuck down a hole . . to the right of Pillar Holes’ on Newby Moss, Ingleborough. Four members, including two new members, carried out the rescue as a training exercise during the evening, rescuing the sh…
A visitor (f) rang 999 for YAS, following a fall and sustaining an ankle injury ‘between Baxengill and Snow Falls, at the viewing bridge’ on the Ingleton Waterfalls Trail. With no response to a PhoneFind message, team members set off to mee…
YAS requested assistance when their ambulance paramedics were unable to locate a visitor (f, 20), reported, by a friend, to be having a panic attack on the outward leg of the Waterfalls Trail. With the location still uncertain, team members divided up …
