A walker (m, 86) complained of not feeling very well, then collapsed, having suffered a suspected heart attack on the Ingleton to Ingleborough bridleway, a short distance beyond Crina Bottom. YAS requested CRO attendance and the first team vehicle to a…
A lone Three Peaks walker (m, 30) reported himself lost on Ingleborough, but otherwise unharmed. Before calling the CRO Duty Controller, North Yorkshire Police were able to establish that the misper was on Simon Fell Breast, a little way below the foot…
NWAS asked for assistance in finding someone (f, 62) believed to be at risk, having walked on to Barbon Low Fell. The missing person was found very easily, assessed by a paramedic team member, then accompanied down to the road-head. She was kept warm u…
Two Three Peaks walkers became crag-fast while ascending the rock scramble above Humphrey Bottom, on Ingleboroough. One (f, 31), became very cold in strong winds and low cloud, so could neither continue nor retreat. After being assessed by a team docto…
A walker (m, 69) experienced a dizzy spell, fell and sustained a head injury on the limestone pavement, at the top of Malham Cove. Air ambulance paramedics, arriving first, assessed the patient, then walked him to the aircraft, as team members were bri…
A walker (f, 60) sustained an ankle injury on the descent from Whernside to the Craven Way green lane and there was concern that she might do more damage if she continued walking. Team members met at Ribblehead and most drove up to the Force Gill aqued…
Three Three Peaks Walkers reported themselves lost, but uninjured, on Ingleborough. In the dark, their one torch and two mobile phones had died and their third phone – the sole means of navigation – showed only 17% battery. NYP were able …
Following a number of 999 calls, reporting ‘a body in the river’, just below Pecca Falls, personnel from CRO (including the Swiftwater Team), North Yorkshire Police, North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service, Yorkshire Ambulance Service and…
A walker (m 64) slipped on wet rock whilst getting a drink from Fell Beck near to Gaping Gill on Ingleborough. He fell into the water and was reported to have hit his head on rocks. His companions helped to get him out of the beck and called for help. …
CRO were called to assist Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS) and Yorkshire Air Ambulance (YAA) with a casualty (m 67) reported to be unconscious having sustained a head injury during a significant fall on rock bands near to the summit of Pen-y-ghent. YA…
Two walkers were attempting to complete the 3 peaks walk; with Pen-y-ghent to be their last summit of the day. Due to delays experienced earlier in the day, they found themselves approaching Pen-y-ghent at dusk. After it became dark they reported thems…
Three cavers were reported overdue from a trip down Jean Pot, Gaping Gill. When CRO’s Duty Controller contacted the informant to get more information, he was told that one of the cavers had just returned to Clapham village and had reported that h…
Three walkers (f, f, f) were reported overdue on the Three Peaks Walk, possibly on Ingleborough. With no instructions on what to do and the only phone they knew about going to voicemail, relatives did an internet search and found a commercial walking g…
A walker (f, 36) was reported overdue on a walk over Ingleborough. However, as the Duty Controller was speaking to NYP, they heard that she had turned up, safe and well. No action required.
Two people (m, m) were reported overdue on the Three Peaks Walk, having been seen last on Whernside at 16.00 hrs. When questioned by NYP’s Force Control Room staff, the caller admitted that the pair had ‘no plan – not sure appropriate…
A walker (m, 31) was reported to be having a fit, then breathing but unconscious, just above the upper tier of rocks on the ascent of Pen y ghent. When he regained consciousness, his companions and a passing doctor moved him to the shelter of the ridge…
A visitor (f, 56) slipped on wet rocks, at the edge of Malham Beck, close to Malham Cove, landing on her face, gashing her nose and dazing herself. When YAS paramedics and CRO members arrived, she had recovered sufficiently to walk, with assistance, to…
Two mountain bikers (m, 37; m, 34) hit a large rock, almost simultaneously, and were unseated near the westernmost point of the Settle Loop of the Pennine Bridleway. One appeared to have a shoulder injury and the other was confused after a blow to the …
A visitor (m, 79) was reported to have collapsed on the outward leg of the Ingleton Waterfalls Trail, near Pecca Falls, although later information as to location appeared confused. A ‘hasty party’ of CRO members located him and after assess…
A caver (f, 34) walking in Wellington boots from Gaping Gill back to Clapham, slipped on the rocky path above Trow Gill, sustaining a painful ankle injury. The initial call-out message suggested that the casualty was at the entrance to Ingleborough Cav…
Following a report of someone in the River Kent, near Sedgwick, five members of CRO’s swiftwater rescue team and the Duty Controller went to assist Kendal MRT (as did corresponding members of Duddon and Furness MRT) in supporting the statutory em…
A caver (m, 20) was reported by Craven Pothole Club (operating the GG winch) to be hung up on the rope in SE Pot. He had gone too low on a re-belay and had been unable to return. However, he was rescued by CPC members, escorted to the Main Chamber and…
A walker (m, 61) reached the top of Malham Cove, but, immediately on arrival, slipped on the wet limestone pavement, injuring his hip or upper leg in such a way that he could not stand. Immediately after a CRO controller and YAS ambulance personnel arr…
A walker (f, 70) was reported to have sprained an ankle and gashed her head in a fall on the limestone pavement at the top of Malham Cove. On arrival, team members found that the slight scalp wound had been covered and all that was required was a stret…
A walker (f18) was struggling to find her way down steep craggy ground off Giggleswick Scar. Whilst trying to descend she tripped, twisting her ankle and banging her chest on a rock. She was unable to bear weight on her foot and became benighted. Yorks…
Four cavers were reported some 3 hours overdue from their expected return from a trip down Curtain Pot on Malham Moor. The informant had become more concerned due to the onset of a thunderstorm with heavy rain. Whilst CRO were mobilising a rescue respo…
Whilst responding to incident number 64, CRO were called to assist Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS) with a second incident. A young boy walking round the waterfalls trail at Ingleton tripped whilst stepping over a large lump of protruding bedrock that…
A young person walking along a bridleway near to Catrigg Force fell and dislocated her knee cap. Possibly due to excitement caused by the arrival of Yorkshire Air Ambulance (YAA), the young person may have inadvertently straightened her leg and found t…
A walker (f 50) participating in a 3 peaks charity walk developed pain in her right hip and knee during her decent from Ingleborough. On route to Horton in Ribblesdale, in the vicinity of Nick Pot, she was unable to continue walking. CRO team members a…
A family’s 5-year old German Shepherd went just off the path, slipped down the slope, then plunged into the river, just below Pecca Falls. It was last seen just above Pecca Bridge. CRO was called via North Yorkshire Police and team members atten…
Three inexperienced walkers, attempting the Three Peaks, reported themselves lost, but uninjured on Ingleborough. The Phonefind app showed them to be on the Swinetail, from where they were advised by phone to return to the summit shelter. This they did…
North Yorkshire Police contacted CRO regarding a report of a Three Peaks walker who was ahead of someone else, but had not arrived at his car when the second walker arrived there. Seven minutes later, a further message was received from NYP ‘Re …
One of a group of three adults rang North Yorkshire Police for Mountain Rescue assistance at the top of Malham Cove and a small group of CRO members was turned out to help. Two members of the walking group were experiencing difficulty on the limestone …
North Yorkshire Police (NYP) requested the help of CRO to search footpaths between Settle and Malham for a local missing person. As CRO team members were mobilising the missing person was found safe and well by NYP officers. Volunteer hours: 10
A local farmer reported that one of his sheep and her two lambs were stuck on a ledge at the former quarry at Meal Bank, near Ingleton. He had spotted them there on Saturday and hoped that they would be motivated to find their own way down when they ha…
A young person was attempting the 3 peaks walk with a school group when he developed pain in his right upper leg and found himself unable to continue walking beyond the summit shelter on Ingleborough. Two teachers waited with him while the rest of his …
On the descent from Ingleborough towards Gaping Gill, a walker (f, 59) slipped and fell forward, sustaining a facial injury. Although originally reported to have lost consciousness, briefly, and possibly having a hip injury, neither may have been the c…
CRO received a request to assist North Yorkshire Police in the search for a high risk missing person whose car was thought to have been found, empty, in Littondale. This is in the area covered by Upper Wharfedale Fell Rescue Association, so the request…
On the way from Ingleborough to Chapel le dale, a walker (f, 68) tripped on an undulation in the grassy path, hearing a snap and feeling serious pain in her left ankle. Fortunately, a passing caving instructor was a member of a neighbouring rescue team…
Whilst awaiting more information from one of the Duty Controllers on scene at Malham regarding incident 45, we were called by North Yorkshire Police to a Male (80) with a twisted ankle at the top of the steps on the west side of the cove. The YAS param…
A sheep was reported to be stranded, 3m down into a pot-hole near Ellerbeck. Two team members attended and had little difficulty in rescuing the sheep, which the farmer took to a farm building to check that it was un-injured. Volunteer hours: 3
Upper Wharfedale Fell Rescue Association received a call from Yorkshire Ambulance Service to a patient (initially described as a ‘body’) in the River Aire, near Riverside Walk, at Airton. As it was in CRO’s area, UWFRA transferred the…
An visitor (82, f) lost consciousness whilst going the through lower cave section past the steps. Paramedics from Yorkshire Ambulance Service entered the cave to commence casualty care. Team members then stretchered the casualty to the YAS ambulance at…
Numerous reports from the US confirm that Josh Bratchley returned to the surface safe and well around 7pm local time last night after being trapped in Mill Pond Cave near Nashville in Tennessee for over 24 hours. Josh was part of five-man team exploring the cave when he failed to return to the surface on…
Yorkshire Ambulance Service asked for assistance, following receipt of a 999 call saying that a walker had fallen and had been feeling dizzy, on the path from Gordale Bridge over to Malham Cove. When the CRO duty controller called the Emergency Operati…
Derbyshire Cave Rescue Organisation are this week celebrating after receiving more than £30,000-worth of life-saving gas detection equipment donated by Honeywell Analytics. The equipment, including four and five gas personal monitors and calibration equipment, was donated when DCRO’s equipment officer, Pete Dell, contacted them trying to source replacement sensors for their old equipment and the…
Two Three Peaks walkers (m, 21; f, 21) became detached from a much larger sponsored walk group and, without a map, took the wrong route off Ingleborough. Before the daylight was lost completely, they phoned North Yorkshire Police, who contacted CRO. Th…
Yorkshire Ambulance Service received a call, saying that a walker (m, 45) was fitting ‘on top of Pen y ghent’. YAS deployed both road and air ambulances, calling CRO as an added precaution. From home, the duty controller could see that the …
While trying to take a photograph from the top of a limestone outcrop, on the path from Brackenbottom to Pen y ghent, a walker (m, 13) fell on to rocks, below, sustaining chest injuries (t.b.c.). After attention from a YAS paramedic, it was agreed that…
A Three Peaks walker (m, 45?) rang an acquaintance in Horton, to say that he had taken a fall while descending from Ingleborough and was bleeding significantly from a head-wound. The acquaintance rang Yorkshire Ambulance Service, whose dispatcher, unab…
A climber (m, 55) suffered a medical event, fell from the crux of his climb and was left suspended, semi-conscious, in his harness on a narrow ledge. CRO members were able to lower him off so that YAS paramedics could make a preliminary examination. He…
Two cavers were reported to be ‘trapped’, two hours after entering Roaring Hole, near Southerscales, Ingleton. Ten minutes later they were reported to be on the surface and walking back down to Chapel le Dale, so no further action was requ…
A walker (f 69) slipped and fell on the limestone pavement at the top of Malham Cove. Visibility was very poor due to low cloud and the pavement was extremely slippery. The casualty was located by CRO team members and treated for a suspected lower leg …
Honoured … Rick Stanton, Connor Roe and Chris Jewell (Photos by Linda Wilson) The British divers at the centre of the Thai cave rescue have been recognised in the New Year’s honours list. Rick Stanton and John Volanthen, who reached the stranded boys first, have both been awarded the George Medal, which is the second…
A walker (m, 52) reported himself (and dog) ‘lost in fog and pitch black’, near the Ingleborough summit shelter. He was escorted down to a team vehicle, near Crina Bottom, to be brought off the hill. Avoidable. Volunteer time: 17 hours
A walker (f, 46) slipped on mud, on the path from Lower Winskill down to Langcliffe, hearing a ‘snap’ as she injured an ankle. Having given her pain relief, team members put the patient into an insulated casualty bag then carried and sledge…
A walker on an evening excursion from Settle to Ribblehead became lost after descending from the summit of Pen-y-ghent. During a brief and muffled telephone call, the CRO Duty Controller was only able to establish that the lost person had a fading torc…
A 3-peaks walker slipped on wet rocks just below the summit of Pen-y-ghent. His fall caused an injury to his ankle – a suspected fracture. The injured walker telephoned for help, but also started to make his way down the hill after his ankle was …
When Rick Stanton and John Volanthen surfaced in Chamber 3 of Tham Luang Cave on day 6 of the rescue to find four people waiting for them they first thought they’d somehow found the boys of the trapped Wild Boar team. In fact they’d discovered four lost Thai rescuers who had been trapped by the rising floodwaters. In the chaos of the early days of the rescue the absence of the men had been unreported and so had not been noticed by the Thai authorities and or the outside world. What followed was a dramatic and unparalleled “snatch” rescue mission perfectly conceived and executed as they dived the four men through three sumps to safety.
In the second part of Darkness Below’s interview with BCRC chair Peter Dennis, he tells Linda Wilson and Sharon Wheeler how disaster struck during the preparations for the final rescue dives.
