Lakes Rescues On The Rise

The number of mountain rescues in the Lakes in 2008 was the highest recorded since 2004 according to a report from the Lake District Search and Mountain Rescue Association despite a publicity campaign to alert visitors to the hazards of the fells.

Teams recorded 464  call-outs in 2008, around 10 per-cent up compared to 425 the year before, but fatalities on the fells actually dropped from 28 in 2006 to 21 last year says the BBC. Not only that, but according to the chairman of the Lake District Mountain Rescue Association, Richard Warren, teams are increasingly being called out to what he termed 'avoidable rescues'.

Teams have taken steps to try and reduce the number of incidents with, for example, a poster campaign by the Langdale-Ambleside team stressing the importance of using appropriate equipment on winter fells, a number of releases by the Lake District National Park Association and even this YouTube video:



The view of the association is that the increase is a result of increased visitor numbers to the Lakes, but also that walkers are increasingly ill prepared for the fells. Ged Feeney, the association's incident report officer told the BBC that:

"It is becoming more and more apparent that people are going on to the fells less equipped than they ought to be, with less experience and not really knowing what they need to do."

Other factors are thought to include a decrease in self reliance and an increase in the use of mobile phones, which allow people to call for help in situation where they might previously have made their own way to safety.

More positively, the Langdale team's winter campaign does appear to have had a positive effect on call-outs with the erection of warning signs in the Langdale Valley being credited with a reduction in rescues early in 2009.

More information: www.ldsamra.org.uk