Shortly after we had closed down incident number 69, CRO were contacted by North Yorkshire Police (NYP) to assist with a group of 3 walkers who had taken a wrong turn whilst descending Ingleborough and were heading towards Clapham rather
than their intended destination of Horton in Ribblesdale. After making contact with the party, who were cold, but uninjured and hunkered down, a CRO Duty Controller (DC) was able to ascertain their location via phonefind (a form of text message that will provide the phones’ location and plot it on our mapping system). After a quick conversation, and confirmation that the group had headtorches, it was agreed that they would start making their way down towards Clapham and CRO vehicles would be despatched to intercept them and assist them off the hill. The DC kept sending phonefind messages which enabled him to continually track the casualty party, and was able to reassure them that they were on the right track. The party were met by CRO team members at Trow Gill where they were escorted back to our vehicles and conveyed back to their own cars in Horton in Ribblesdale.
This group did exactly the right thing by calling for help and then staying put in a safe location with phone signal until we were able to contact them and come up with the best plan to get them off the hill safely and without further incident. Additionally, having appropriate lighting in the form of head torches provided the CRO DC with enough confidence to request the party to start making their own way down whilst he tracked their progress as they ‘self rescued’.
Volunteer hours – 14