Oct. 4th Tue. 23.32 – Crystal Cave, Barbondale, Cumbria – Alert only.

Two cavers (m, 49; m, 29) were reported overdue from an evening excursion into Crystal Cave. As the call was received only a half hour after their intended exit time and parts of the cave are tight and tortuous, the CRO Duty Controller decided to wait a while. He also asked Cumbria Police to check for parked cars. Before this could be done, the original caller was in touch again…

Incident 83/2016 – Oct. 2nd Sun. 14.17 – Near Upper Long Churn Cave, Horton in Ribblesdale – Mountain Rescue.

No sooner had CRO members cleared up after the helicopter practice than a would-be caver (f, 21) was reported to have dislocated a knee in a slip just beyond the stile leading to the upper entrance to the Long Churn Caves. Her companion had re-located the joint, but she was unable to weight-bear and was in extreme pain. CRO members immobilised the leg and carried her by stretcher, then Land…

Helicopter practice on Sunday

‘Thank you’ to the crew of G-MCGH, one of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s Sikorsky S92 helicopters, based at Humberside Airport, for flying over to Ribblehead, on Sunday. All members of search and rescue teams must follow a basic training regime, before being allowed to work with the helicopters on a live incident. Anyone who has experienced anything like the howling gale required to lift the 7-tonne (unladen weight) aircraft…

Incident 82/2016 – Sep. 26th Mon. 22.18 – Helbeck, Cumbria (North of Brough) – Mountain Rescue.

A beater on a grouse shoot had been reported missing (and not dressed for the conditions), early on Monday evening, having last been seen two hours previously. After several hours of searching, Kirkby Stephen MRT called in extra help from search and rescue teams belonging to the North Pennines Search and Rescue Co–ordinating Group (of which CRO is a member), Lake District Mountain Rescue Association and the North East Search…