To:
radio.cumbria@bbc.co.uk
cc:
tom.speight@bbc.co.uk,
martin lewes@bbc.co.uk
Fax to:
Subject:
Mountain
Rescue and the 3 Peak challenge event
For the attention of Julie Clayton - Radio
Cumbria
Julie,
I spoke with Martin Lewis this morning and he
asked me to contact you re the problems we are still having with 3 peak
challenge events. We were called out by the police on Saturday night
for a couple from the north-east who were doing a trial - they turned up
safe and well before the team was mobilised so no major inconvenience on the
part of the team. As an aside, it is worth mentioning that there were 57
minibuses parked on the car park at Wasdale Head at 6.30 p.m. Saturday evening.
All of the vehicles would be three peak challenge people.
There was a further call-out last night just
after midnight for another group of 11 doing the challenge - the problem with
this group is that they have still not called the police to say they are safely
off the mountain and mountain rescue are no longer required. This sort of
behaviour is not acceptable and somehow we need to get the messages across that
teams need to be well prepared / fit enough to complete the challenge and if
they do get into difficulties you cannot just call the police on a whim and then
carry on and finish the challenge without informing anyone that you are safely
down.
We are approaching the busiest time for three
peak eventer - 21st June being the longest day with greatest amount of daylight.
A good time to reinforce messages about preparedness. Julian
Carradice , Team leader is happy to be called and do something on radio about
it.
This is an extract from the Team Leader's email
to the Committee earlier this morning to let us know what was happening re the
Police callout last night - the team leader has just put a message out to the
committee advising that he has closed the police log but still nothing from the
informant.
Thanks
Richard Warren
Chairman Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Richard
I took the call form the Police just after
midnight last night. It was about a group of 11 reported long overdue on
Scafell Pike.
The informant was at the NT camp site in Great
Langdale but the phone there doesn't accept incoming calls. His mobile was
out of range........ I couldn't get any detail until having spoken with
him.
At 12.45am he rang me on my home no, having
rung the Police again and been advised to do so.
* Group all in their late 20's except for 1 in
30's and 1 in 50's.
* no medical conditions amongst the group
* all with torches
* maps and compasses in the group
* last seen at about 8.30pm at Ill Crag - i.e.
two descents still to go before the Pike.
* some of the original group turned back there
- the 11 had continued, probably making the summit after 9pm
* all had windproof clothing etc
* all had set off from Langdale at 6pm
intending to return the same way and doing the 3 peaks.
On that basis:-
* I didn't expect them back before midnight
* it was unlikely anyone was at real risk - it
was a warm and clear night
* If someone had an injury the group was big
enough for someone else to stay and others to make their way off to raise the
alarm
* at that time of day, I didn't think people
would appreciate continual updating by group pager message
I said we'd review at first light and asked him
to ring again at 5am this morning..... Police updated at 1am.
The informant hasn't rung back!
I've left a message on his mobile (7am this
morning) reminding him that a Police Log is still open
So what do we do know?....... They're
either :-
a) still out there
b) off the hill and driven off to Snowdon or
Ben Nevis (not sure which order they're doing it in)
My conclusion is "do nothing", at
least nothing about sending people onto the hill to search. But have a
growing concern that a group doing a mountain challenge seem to know little or
nothing about mountaineering ethics. If they are off and gone I see it in
a similar light to leaving life boat crews to search the seas when people that
are known to be safe already.
I will continue to leave messages and will
update if I get any more info but for now, there is still a log open.
Julian
Postscript - no further contact from the informant as at 12.00 p.m. 11 June so the incident was closed and the police log closed.