A notorious Lake District scramble almost claimed another victim on Tuesday when a 61-year-old man took a tumble from its razor sharp edge.
The man was descending Sharp Edge after an ascent of Blencathra when he decided that he did not like the look of the renowned slab section.
The rock was extremely slippery in the wet and it was very exposed to the strong south westerly wind.
He opted to follow what looked like a path down on the north side. Not long after starting his descent the man slipped and plunged some 15 metres down a gully but very fortunately managed to stop himself.
He suffered bruising and a few cuts in the fall and came to the wise conclusion that both the ascent and descent would be too dangerous to attempt in the conditions and he called for help.
Members of Keswick Mountain Rescue Team responded and not knowing the full extent of the man’s injuries, and anticipating a possibly difficult extraction, assistance was requested from Penrith MRT and also the Coastguard helicopter.
The man was located and a rope rescue was set up from the ridge. One team member was lowered down to the man, a helmet and harness was then fitted before both were lowered down the gully to an awaiting team doctor who did an assessment of the man’s injuries.
Some pain relief was given and the man was able to walk down unaided.
Earlier in the day some of the team members had been involved in the recovery of a 50-year-old man who had broken his ankle after coming off his mountain bike after slipping on a wet tree root in Whinlatter Forest.
A passing mountain biker raised the alarm and a team Land Rover was dispatched and was able to get relatively close to the casualty site on the upper north red loop.
After some pain relief and splinting the man was carried by stretcher to a Forestry Commission vehicle for transfer to an ambulance.
