Lakes Rescues Underline Need For Care

It's been an icy weekend and two rescues in the Lakes are a bit of a reminder that conditions at this time of year can be treacherous.

According to the News and Star web site, the Patterdale team were called out twice at the weekend. The first rescue was a woman who slipped on an icy path near Grisedale Tarn injuring her ankle. She was carried out and taken to hospital.

The second call out, yesterday, was to a man who slipped onto a ledge while walking above crags at Scrubby Cragg on Deepdale. He was unable to climb back up and, in fading light, was rescued by team members using abseil ropes and equipped with ice axes and crampons.

The team is no advising walkers to be very careful in the current conditions where low temperatures,can mean conditions become icy even on low level paths.

Those OMers on Saturday's OM Christmas Walk in the Peak found similarly treacherous ground on the normally benign Mam Tor ridge where a coating of verglas made rocky ground lethally slippy.

It's also worth bearing in mind that at this time of year, darkness comes early making for short days particularly in Scotland. That means an early start is always a good idea and you should carry a headtorch at all times. So in the immortal words of the Sarge in Hill Street Blues, let's be careful out there...

More about the Lakes incidents at www.newsandstar.co.uk.