Patterdale Mountain Rescue pushed to ‘very limit’

Mountain rescue volunteers said a call-out during Storm Amy had put them “at the very limit” and at “real risk” of harm.

Patterdale Mountain Rescue said 13 members went up to Great Dodd, near Keswick, in torrential rain on Friday afternoon and were blown over by winds of up to 80mph (129km/h).

A fell-runner who had set off from Ambleside in the hope of making it down before the storm took hold had called for help after twisting an ankle. One of the volunteers then twisted his own leg during the rescue operation.

The team urged members of the public to respect serious weather warnings.

“Friday’s incident was at the very limit of what we as the leadership in Patterdale feel that we could operate in before putting our team members at real risk,” a spokesperson said.

But they acknowledged: “No-one goes out expecting to have to call out a rescue team and accidents can happen to the very best of us.”

The incident lasted five hours and the team wished the fell runner a speedy recovery.