Deaths in the Lake District have doubled since last year, mountain rescue has said.
Richard Warren, of the Lake District Search and Mountain Rescue Association, said 28 deaths have been recorded this year, compared to 14 deaths last year.
It has prompted the organisation to urge people to be prepared and properly equipped for an emergency when out on the fells.
He said: “The fatalities this year have doubled. We face all kinds of incidents on land and in water, but the biggest cause this year is cardiac arrests. We’ve had 13 of those so far.
“This could be down to increasing numbers of people getting outdoors in the Lake District.”
Teams across Cumbria have also attended 770 call outs so far this year – a rise of 20 per cent compared to the same period last year.
Dozens of the incidents throughout the year were also back-to-back call outs which increase resource strain on teams.
In October alone teams were called out 70 times – a number Richard said was unusual for this time of year.
Richard added: “2024 has been intense with regards to the number of call outs. By the end of November, the number of call outs was 20 per cent up on 2023.
“Last year was a record year for call outs, as we had 714 999 calls to deal with. But last year we also had an abnormal spike of 60 separate incidents at the start of December due to the severe snow event in the south of the county, so it sort of skewed the figures.
“But as of today, we’re on just over 770 call outs for the year. So that increase is a worry.”
The impact of social media
Richard said that mountain rescue attributes the increase in call outs to the growing popularity of the Lake District.
In particular, he said that social media was a big cause of problems for rescue teams.
He added: “Social media causes a lot of problems. People want to share their experiences with the world and a lot of that is beautiful pictures of the Lakes, which attracts more people to come up here looking for things like fairy pools or infinity pools.
“But that increase can lead to incidents like the near fatal that happened above Thirlmere. Someone tried to help their partner out and and slipped a long way and that could have been fatal.”
On TikTok alone, there are over 39.1 million posts tagging the Lake District and videos taken in the area go viral regularly.
One recent viral video showed a group of young men finding themselves benighted in very poor weather conditions in Wasdale, in the area of Scafell Pike.
Richard said while it was encouraging to see people out in the fells – that being unprepared can have disastrous consequences.
He said: “The TikTok shows the young people in a position, as many people do, where they ended up benighted.
“I think they felt it was a bit of a joke and at that age people do feel immortal, but Scafell Pike in particular is a killer.
“There are black spots up there like Piers Gill and you can get hypothermia in poor weather even in summer, let alone in the winter months.
“So although the lads survived and got home to tell the tale, it could have been another disaster.”
Richard said that 30 per cent of call outs are considered avoidable – which usually involved people who have found themselves lost or are unprepared for conditions.
Keeping safe and supporting rescue teams
Richard added that the Lake District’s teams – who are entirely made up of volunteers – are feeling the pressure of the increasing number of call outs.
Richard said: “Mountain rescue volunteers put their lives on the line to help people. We had a tragic incident with Chris Lewis and that was a totally unnecessary rescue that took place and took the life of one of our team members.
“We’ve also had a number of team members face Piers Gill incidents because when people go in, they can’t come out without help and many of those people are left near death.
“A team members partner recently said to me one thing they worry about is when their partner goes on a rescue that takes longer than normal, they find themselves not knowing if it’s just a long rescue or if they’re hurt themselves.
“So this increase is impacting partners, employers, friends and families as well.”
Richard said that teams in honeypot areas of the Lake District are facing the highest amount of call outs and keeping up with the demand both with recruiting volunteers and funding resource is a constant challenge.
He said: “Nobody in mountain rescue gets paid, we do it because we love the outdoors and helping people in trouble, but we are hoping people will try and be more responsible and prepared when heading out.
“Keswick alone are about a third up on last year and are very very busy.
“I joined Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team 40 years ago and we used to have 25 to 30 rescues in a year. Now we are on 160 to 170 and we were on 140 a couple of years ago, so it’s gradually increasing all the time.
“The consequence for us is demands on peoples time as volunteers, we’re constantly recruiting more team members and that increases our costs and we have to find ways to meet that demand.”
Even the most prepared and experienced walkers can suddenly get into difficulty or find themselves with an unexpected injury.
Year-in-year-out, mountain rescue teams across the county face surges in call outs when weather shifts with the changing seasons.
Rescue teams across the Lake District are asking people heading outdoors to use their #BeAdventureSmart service.
Every person going outdoors in the Lake District should ask themselves three questions before doing so:
- Am I confident I have the knowledge and skills for the day?
- Do I know what the weather will be like?
- Do I have the right gear?
You can find out more about Adventure Smart and ways to stay safe by clicking here.
