A woman walker was airlifted to hospital after she was seriously injured.
Cockermouth Mountain Rescue Team was called out at around 6.30pm on Friday to Kirk Fell.
Team members were out on exercise behind Melbreak, and about to start training so called a halt and went to help the woman and her companions.
Due to the location, poor weather conditions and likely injuries, the team requested assistance from Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team and a Coastguard helicopter.
The team located the woman at around 8pm, high in a gully on Kirkfell Crags.
She had sustained a substantial tumbling fall and had multiple, potentially serious injuries.
The team treated her injuries and put her on a stretcher. She was then winched directly from the gully into the helicopter.
Cockermouth and Wasdale teams escorted the remaining members of the party off the hill to safety.
Team leader Andrew McNeil said: “This was a serious callout, in a dangerous location with potentially significant injuries. The loose, steep
nature of the gully meant we could not work safely with more than half a dozen team members.
“The helicopter demonstrated some excellent flying in what was extremely poor weather to extract the casualty in the safest way possible, minimising risk to all concerned.
“Without their support, we would have been looking at a strenuous and technical stretcher evacuation. Thanks also to Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team who provided
back-up. Cockermouth Mountain Rescue wishes the casualty a speedy recovery.”
It was the team’s 32nd call out of 2022, lasted about six hours and involved 17 Cockermouth team members and 16 Wasdale team members.
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