27/02/10 Five lost walkers on summit of Helvellyn Location: Helvellyn Summit
On Saturday 27th February at 18.00 Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team were asked by Cumbria Police to go to the assistance of 5 persons who were cold and lost and were unable to descend from the summit of Helvellyn in the dark. The party had walked along Striding Edge and reached the summit plateau from where they called 999 and asked to be rescued.
Ten members of the team responded and were deployed onto the fell. A Sea King Helicopter from RAF Valley that had just completed an earlier rescue in the Western Fells, also attended, but due to the low cloud was unable after repeated attempts to reach the scene. This Helicopter then flew to Walney Island and shut down to await a clearing in the weather.
The team ascended to the summit of Helvellyn and found the 5 persons. After ascertaining that they were not suffering any medical problems they walked them down to the Thirlmere from where they were transported along with all the team members to the Rescue base in Patterdale. The helicopter returned to RAF Valley. The team was finally stood down after a long, cold and very windy night in deep snow at 24.00