INCIDENT 58/2020 – Aug. 24th Mon. 13.14hrs – Watlowes (‘The Dry Valley’), Malham – Mountain Incident

A walker (f, 45) landed heavily, coming off a stile in Malham’s ‘Dry Valley’, and sustained a suspected broken ankle. With no signal on her party’s mobile phone, another walker used his phone to call 999, for an ambulance. Unfortunately, the description given (without mention of a stile being noted) was 300m from the road and sounded like the main path from the village. First on the scene, the CRO controller was unable to find anyone on the path who was injured or anyone who had seen someone who seemed to be injured. However, as the team Land Rover was passing Langscar Gate* (2km further up Cove Road), a companion of the injured walker flagged it down and told the driver that the casualty was near the top of the Dry Valley. The YAS road ambulance and CRO team members relocated to Langscar Gate, then walked down the (correct) 300m from the road, there. After assessment by the YAS paramedics, the casualty was stretchered up to the road ambulance for the journey to hospital.

Volunteer Hours: 17

*  Although the more direct route to Malham Cove from CRO Base, at Clapham, is normally via Kirkby Malham and Malham village, ‘post lockdown’ traffic has been such that we have taken to using the Langcliffe and Malham Moor route to avoid the chaos which the village has to endure. Fortunate, in this case!