As the vehicles returned to base from Incident 55, with Incident 56 ongoing the team received our fourth call of the evening, from North Yorkshire Police, alerting us to a party of three cavers (F 39, F 29, M 26) overdue on a trip through Long Churns down to the window in Alum Pot.
As the team was already deployed nearby a vehicle headed over to Alum Pot Lane to confirm that the party’s car was still there and as it was they proceeded on foot to check the cave entrances for any sign of them. Due to the extremely wet weather that evening the water levels in the cave were high so whilst the team cavers were put on standby one of the Duty Controllers and Assistant Controllers headed up to the cave to check the water levels for safety before deploying the team.
After an initial assessment of the cave it was decided conditions were too unsafe to attempt a rescue through the cave so a small team headed up to abseil down into Alum Pot to look for signs of light and attempt to make contact by voice or whistle if the party were sheltering in the window or St Pauls area – to no avail. They then checked the other entrances again whilst waiting for the water to subside. Once water levels dropped sufficiently to enter the system a search was commenced by the party on scene, whilst the rest of the team’s cavers headed up to the cave to provide assitance. The missing party were found relatively quickly sheltering in a safe place in Lower Long Churns, safe and well if a little cold. A second CRO team entered the cave to help assist the missing party back to the surface and after a quick assessment by a team nurse they were walked back off the fell to our waiting Landrover for transport back to their vehicle.
Volunteer hours: 120
Footnote: Long Churns can respond quite quckly to heavy rainfall, especially when the ground is already saturated, making some areas of the cave impassable. Always get a forecast before going underground and if in any doubt as to the water levels the cave will always be there another (drier) day.