Mountain Rescue

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. 

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. 

(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 50^th 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. 

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. 

The winchman calling back the helicopter (photo credit: Andy)

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... 

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. 

Mock Climbing Student

Plas-y-Brenin (PYB) is the National Mountain Sports Centre in north Wales. I have been a couple of times now, on a last minute white water kayaking weekend and then again to their mountain biking ‘Big Ride’ weekend.

I had an excellent experience on both of these occasions, and could happily take part in every course on offer at PYB, if only I had the time and the money. With that in mind, imagine my excitement when I discovered that you can attend activities there for free by becoming a Mock Student.

PYB run various instructor courses throughout the year, and for some courses and assessments they need to see the instructors with pretend students. To get this as authentic as possible, the pretend students need to have the same kind of skill and experience level that real students would have. Therefore, you can register with PYB, listing your skills and experience at whatever activity you are interested in, and they will get in touch when a course comes up at which you would be useful. A brilliant opportunity to get some free days out with a really great organisation.

I registered as a mock student for kayaking, rock climbing and mountain leader courses. I wasn’t available for the first couple of times I got a call asking for mock students, which was a real shame, but the third time I was in luck and was available. I decided to stay at PYB again as it’s so nice there, and not too expensive. It would obviously have been even cheaper to camp, but our camping gear was already cleaned up and packed away ready for emigration later in year.

The assessment I was to be a mock student for was a climbing instructor assessment, so I packed up my climbing gear and headed for north Wales. After a good dinner and a comfortable night at the centre, we had a pretty leisurely start. Beginning with introductions and then gear checks, and a few cups of tea, we headed to the crag at Idwal Slabs.

We had a chilly but good day on the rock, and I totally recommend registering with PYB for their mock student program if these activities interest you at all.

Identifying our first route from the guide.

Idwal Slab

Beautiful views from the crag, but it was cold on our shady side of the valley.

Getting ready to belay.

Teaching the other student how to coil a rope for carrying.

You can walk out of the top of these climbs.

My chalk bag - hand sewn from a bar towel :)

EC Cornwall ~ Day 2

Continued... 

When we got back to the bunk house / hostel, we met up with the other group. They’d had no luck in spotting basking sharks, so had eventually given up and gone snorkelling with local seals instead of sharks.

We were all naturally a little disappointed, but it seemed everyone had had a good day anyway, and my group all remained positive for our trip out on the boat the next day.

When our turn on the boat came around, we had our briefing and then set off out of Penzance harbour.

Our Skipper and Guide, Charles Hood

Our first exciting bit of wildlife was seeing lots of these huge jellyfish, Rhizostoma pulmo – commonly known as Barrell Jellyfish. These impressive looking creatures are the largest jellyfish found in British waters, and while I have seen thousands over the years as I grew up near the Pembrokeshire coast, they were quite a surprise for some of our group! Luckily for swimmers these are not stingy jellyfish, and in fact they form a favourite food of leatherback turtles.

We were searching for the plankton-eating Basking Sharks near to the coast, as apparently this is usually a good place to find them as they feed off blooms of algae that have concentrated as the tide or currents push them up against cliffs or into small bays.

We passed this house up on the cliffs, which is apparently where the author John Le Carre lives!

We also passed the famous Minack Theatre perched on the cliffs:

After much searching for basking sharks we had had no luck, apart from a very brief sighting of some porpoises that I couldn’t get pictures of – they were too far away, and only a tiny bit of fin breaks the water as they swim. So we headed out to the cluster of rocks off of Land’s End to find some friendly seals to swim with instead.

Seals are such lovely curious creatures. As soon as our boat arrived at the rocks there were little grey heads popping out of the water to find out what we were!

We got our thick wetsuits all zipped up, and added neoprene hoods to our ensemble – very sexy! Then, snorkels and flippers in place, we plopped into the water. We were buddied-up in pairs, and I was buddied with Vijay. We stuck close together in the water, so he appears in lots of these photos. We weren’t allowed to go after the seals or touch them or anything, but they were pretty happy to come up to us, and even nibble on our flippers if they thought we weren’t looking!

After the seal swimming we did a bit more basking shark searching as we continued around the coast, until it was time for lunch. Lunch was brief as we were keen to search for sharks again, this time returning around the coast back towards Penzance.

There were still no sharks for us to see, so we had to satisfy ourselves with watching the bird life – gannets diving, and occasional razorbills and guillemots whizzing past. Then all of a sudden Charles, our guide, let out a cry of “what’s that fin?” We were all immediately at attention trying to see what he had spotted. Then there is was – another fin!!! 

It was soon apparent that these were not basking shark fins we had seen, but in fact they belonged to a creature that Charles said was much rarer to see – a Risso’s Dolphin. These dolphins are less bold with humans than the bottlenose dolphin that we normally think of when we think ‘dolphin’, so they don’t come so close to boats or ride the bow waves. They also don’t have the distinctive beak, and so are a little more whale-like in appearance.

Risso's Dolphin

After seeing nothing but fins for a few seconds, the dolphins disappeared. Then, quite suddenly, a dolphin began to surface fairly near to our boat. It looked quite odd and at first we couldn’t work out what was going on. Then, as it broke the surface, we saw that it had brought up one of those huge barrel jellyfish and was playing with it! It was wonderful to watch, so much so that I missed the best bits for photos and only started snapping when it wasn’t so clear to see. In the 2 photos, the dolphin is the longer pale whitish blob under the surface to the right, while the jellyfish is the smaller greyer rounder blob under the surface to the left of the dolphin.

Next on the agenda from the dolphins was a bit more entertainment: they were performing a little nearer a yacht that was further out to sea, breaching, tail-slapping and a behaviour called spy-hopping. This involved them bursting vertically out of the sea until just their tail was still in the water, then falling sideways with a big body slap back into the water. They seemed to do this trick in synchronisation, so that as one dolphin was falling away from the vertical, the next was just rising out of the water to follow on, with about 5 or 6 repetitions of this trick in a row!! It was incredible to watch, but difficult for me to photograph!

I got lots of pictures of splashes, and one of the tail slapping although it the tail was tiny in it, and cropping it means the picture quality isn’t too great.

Then, a short while later, the dolphins performed again! And this time I was able to get a shot of the spy-hopping!

They swam around our boat for a while, although to be honest time was pretty much standing still for me as I was so excited! 

It may have been a basking shark fail, but it was a firm dolphin win! And to make it extra exciting, this was my first ever sighting of marine dolphins, so I really was one excited little person!

EC Cornwall ~ Day 1

I booked onto an Explorers Connect weekend to Cornwall, supposed to be for swimming with basking sharks, but nature obviously does its own thing, and this year nature has decided that there haven’t been many basking sharks at all spotted off the Cornish coast so far. Still, we decided to remain optimistic, and stick to the plan with the hire of the boat and guide.

We were split into 2 groups for the weekend, 1 group going out in the boat each day, and I was on the second day. This meant that, along with my fellow second-dayers, we had the first day at our disposal for whatever we fancied doing.

At breakfast, accompanied with a few maps and active outdoorsy guide books, a consensus was reached: we would pop into St Ives for a quick look around and to grab things for lunch later, then we would head out to another bit of coast to walk a section of coast path along to a small beach that featured in a Wild Swimming guide we had looked through. I know we could have just gone to the beach and gone swimming, but this felt more adventurous…

St Ives was gorgeous, and as well as a little stroll through the town we enjoyed a cream tea, and picked up a pasty each for lunch on the beach. Then we headed off to the coast near Hayle, very near to Riviere Sands Holiday Park. 

We set off along the coast path. At this point it was mostly weaving its way through coastal sand dunes (these sand dunes are very delicate, so it made me feel quite guilty!) which was quite tough going, and we weren’t walking too fast.

After a while of admiring the views and the wildlife, we decided to drop down onto the beach to get a bit more distance under our belts, and so we could find somewhere nice to sit and munch on our pasties. The beach was still tough going for hiking in places, with lots of effort just sinking into the soft sand!

We found a nice quiet spot for lunch, and the pasties were delicious – although they were probably even nicer while they were still hot! Then a couple of our group headed off to collect their hire wetsuits for the following day, and the rest of us headed back up to the coast path.

Godrevy Lighthouse in the distance...

There was a headland, with the Godrevy Lighthouse on a rock offshore, visible in the distance.

The swimming spot we were aiming for was around the headland, so on we walked! We reached the headland at last…

... and much nearer!

Then carried on around the coast, the sand dunes now having given way to rocky cliffs and easier walking. This type of scenery reminds me of my home, Pembrokeshire – it’s very beautiful :)

The path off the main coast path down to the bay, called Fisherman’s Cove, was very hard to spot as it was so over grown – when we found it we had to push through lots of scrub, bracken and gorse, until we got to a very steep and tricky path leading down the side of the cliff.

The beach was very pretty though, and we were a little surprised to see how many other people had made this trickier journey to reach this little bay, rather than staying at the easier to reaches beaches so nearby.

Fisherman's Cove

After a chilly swim – the aim of reaching this point, so I didn’t think I should wimp out despite the cold! – we headed back again to meet the rest and hear about their boat trip. The tide had gone out by now, so we walked for miles along the beach. It felt like we were walking forever, not getting any closer to our destination…

But of course we made it eventually, and headed back to the hostel / bunkhouse ready to find out if there had been any sharks, and full of hope that there would be sharks the next day!