This incident happened in August 2009, and I had written about it for a different reason much nearer the
time. The event seemed like a pretty big deal, both at the time and on
reflection – I still think about it often – so I thought I would publish it.
I enjoy hill walking, although I haven’t
been doing as much as I would like to lately. Back in 2009 however, I was heading
for the hills with my then-new-boyfriend (now husband!) Adam quite regularly.
I had walked up Snowdon, the tallest
mountain in Wales, previously and in July 2009 we had made a trip to Scotland
where we had walked up Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in Scotland. Therefore,
walking up the highest peak in England, Scafell Pike, seemed a natural thing to
do next. For this trip we invited friends Andy and Stu too, and the four us met
at my house and drove together up to the Lake District.
I had picked a route from Trail
Magazine, a publication I really like for its hill walking route
suggestions, gear reviews, and general walking tips and features. The route
took in another peak, Great Gable, and continued on to summit Scafell Pike
before completing a loop and finishing up back at the popular walkers’ pub near
our campsite.
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| At the top of Great Gable |
We reached the top of Great Gable
easily enough, and stopped for a brew from our flasks near the top.
We then had
a gentle walk with sweeping views on the way from Great Gable to the Scafell
massif, ready to hike up Scafell Pike.
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| (photo credit: Andy) |
On this pathway we rounded a bit of a
bend and a cluster of walkers in the distance came into view. As we got nearer, we could see more passers-by
arriving and adding to the group, and it appeared quite unusual. We had been
watching the Mountain Rescue helicopter
performing manoeuvres a little earlier, and we started to wonder if maybe an
incident had occurred and that was why the group had gathered and the
helicopter had been flying.
Fearing the worst, Andy and I decided
to push ahead to reach the group and find out what was happening. When we got to the group of walkers, we found
out that there had indeed been a problem: at a point just beyond the cluster of walkers, the path became
quite narrow with a steep rise to one side and a steep drop to the other, and a
waterfall came down from above and dropped away onto rocks below the path on
the other side. At this narrow, damp bit of path, a walker had slipped and
fallen down onto the rocks below.
The group with the fallen walker were
of mixed European nationalities and most of them did not speak English, so
communicating was tricky. Between their limited English and my even-more-limited GCSE
German though, we were able to find out a little bit more. The group were colleagues and friends out celebrating
someone’s 50th birthday with a walk in the hills. I was surprised
to discover that the walker had fallen at least 20 minutes previously, but no-one
had really taken charge of the situation or done any kind of first aid. From talking to
the people who had been with her when she fell I could put this down to them
being in a bit of shock at what had happened. Most amazing to me however, was
that so many other walkers coming across this incident had sat themselves down
to watch but hadn’t done anything to actually help! (It turned out that the
circling Mountain Rescue Helicopter was just exercising, and it was a total
coincidence that it was there at all) I was astounded.
As nothing had been done yet, Andy and
I decided immediately to get involved and try to help. While Andy talked to the
walkers up on the footpath and tried to get the attention of the Mountain
Rescue helicopter, I quickly climbed down to the fallen walker. She was a Dutch
lady, and was obviously quite hurt and getting hypothermic – she had head and
facial injuries from the fall onto rocks, had slurred speech and some confusion,
and couldn’t walk or stand without help.
Although members of her group were down there with her, she was also still
sitting against rocks in the fast flowing, very cold water, and so I immediately
got people organised to get her out of the water.
As she couldn’t stand well or walk at
all, it took a bit of hard work to get enough people together in the small gully
to carry her out, but although they had been too shocked to have taken the initiative
already, with someone taking charge everyone was very willing to help and between us we managed it. Her
partner was with her and he was obviously really distressed, so I tried to
comfort him as much as I could too.
Carrying her out of the gully, we got
her to a spot where we could get back up to a bank sloping down gently from the
footpath, and Andy got some people together at the top to help lift her up
there where she would be safer and we could look after her better. This had all only taken a few
minutes, in which time Adam and Stu had also arrived, but no-one had
been able to get the attention of the helicopter. Therefore Adam and Stu got the
map out to work out our exact grid reference, and then sent a couple of people
off in different directions to try and get a phone signal and call Mountain
Rescue, while I got my first aid kit out to clean up the fallen walker’s head a
bit.
Hypothermia can be quite dangerous, particularly
in exposed situations like this, so with her partner to help we got as much of
her wet clothing off as possible in the circumstances and then got her wrapped
up in spare warm kit. The others I was with kept onlookers an appropriate distance
away – it’s always important in this type of situation to keep ‘spectators’
away from a casualty.
With the lady out of the water and
wrapped up as much as possible, and the helicopter on the way, there wasn’t a
great deal to do so her partner and I just cuddled up to her to keep her as
warm as possible, and gave her as much reassurance as possible. Then another
walker came by and offered us the use of his emergency shelter, which was not
only really helpful in keeping the chill wind off her, but also reinstated my
faith in other walkers! The shelter was only big enough for two so I left the
couple together inside, and we soon spotted the helicopter arriving. I borrowed
a fluorescent bag cover from an onlooker, and gave held it up as a signal to the helicopter, and also for it to act as a bit of a windsock for
them. Everyone was waving to the helicopter, and as it came nearer we did our
best to keep everyone clear.
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| Mountain Rescue helicopter attempting to land (photo credit: Andy) |
Unfortunately, it turned out that
where we were the shape of the ground and surrounding hills meant that the winds
were constantly shifting and gusting, and after a few attempts the helicopter
pilot realised he wouldn’t be able to land. The helicopter therefore lifted up
again and flew off out of sight to find somewhere that he could land, and Andy ran off after the helicopter so that he could
meet the winchman and bring him back to us as swiftly as possible.
When the winchman arrived to us I told
him everything I knew, and we just did whatever he asked us to to help. When he
was ready, the winchman called the helicopter back by radio, and with everyone
else huddled out of the way, the helicopter lowered its winch down. It was
impressive to see how smoothly they worked together to winch the poor lady up
to safety, and once this manoeuvre was completed they flew off to get her to hospital.
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| The winchman calling back the helicopter (photo credit: Andy) |
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| Winching to safety |
With the drama over, all of the onlookers - included the group who had been with the injured walker - gathered
up their things and dispersed, and our group started to continue our walk too. As
we walked away I looked over my shoulder, and saw that the injured lady’s
partner was now all alone, just sat on a rock with his head in hands. With nothing
left to focus on, he seemed so deflated and upset.
I walked back to him and sat next to
him with arm around his shoulders. He sat silently for a while, and suddenly just
stood up and let out a wail of anguish like I have never heard before. I really
felt for him, so I went over to him and held him, and he clung to me in such a
powerful hug that I felt so glad I had looked back for him. We stood like that
until I felt the tension in him reduce, and then we stepped back from each
other. He thanked me and asked me to thank the rest of the guys I was with too,
took a deep breath, and finally headed off after the rest of his own group.
This whole event was a pretty moving
experience and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to continue with our plan to summit
Scafell Pike, but the guys outvoted me and we carried on. It was probably good
that we did, as the walking helped me to feel calm again, and we were all in
good spirits by the time we reached the top, even if the weather was still a
bit miserable...
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| At the summit of Scafell Pike |
Descending again, we finished off our
circuit back at the walker’s pub we had passed at the start, and went in for a
few well-earned pints. Inside at the bar we bumped into none other than the
group who had been with the lady who had fallen! They had arrived earlier and
were on their way out, but they thanked us and told us she was safely in
hospital and doing fine – she would be released from hospital the following day
– and her partner had managed to get there too and was with her. They took
photos with us, and bought us all a pint before heading off. It was great to
hear that she was ok and that her partner had been able to get to her so soon.
I still think about this often, and feel
really glad that we were able to help with something special that day.
