'Mid-summer Madness' for Rescue Team (Sun 28th June 2009)

Being used to having a 'silly season' in the rains of November, members of the Cave Rescue Organisation were taken a bit by surprise, on Saturday, finding themselves called to six incidents within five hours.  Despite the sun and high temperature, not one was a case of heat exhaustion.

The first call-out was on familiar enough territory, working with the farmer to recover a sheep with a broken leg from Upper Long Churn Cave, at Selside (Horton in Ribblesdale). 

Within an hour of the first call, a second incident was reported, when a Three Peaks walker (m, 43) fell, sustaining a possible ankle fracture, on the descent from Whernside.  When he had been treated by a Yorkshire Ambulance Service paramedic, CRO members carried him to an air ambulance, which ferried him to a waiting road ambulance for transport to hospital.

At this point, help was requested by another Three Peaks walker (m, 26), who had also sustained a leg injury, a little further up on Whernside.  He was assisted down to a CRO Land Rover and driven down to the same, waiting road ambulance.

Again, no sooner had CRO members begun to relax than they were called to a mountain-biker (m, 26) who had sustained a penetrative abdominal injury and general abrasions, while descending Thwaite Lane, towards Clapham. He was carried by stretcher to a road ambulance, then taken to an air ambulance, for rapid transfer to hospital.

Tom Redfern, this week's Duty Controller, said "By now, any team member who hadn't had an early lunch was really regretting it, because the next call was back on to Whernside again."   This time, a Three Peaks walker (f, 22) had injured her ankle.  CRO members carried her by stretcher to their Land Rover, which took her to a road ambulance at Ribblehead.

And finally (for Saturday, anyway), the North West Ambulance Service asked for help in locating a 65-year old man, reported to have collapsed 'near the second viaduct' at the head of Dentdale.  Spot searches by NWAS and CRO, between Ribblehead and Arten Gill, failed to find anyone in need of assistance. 

Fortunately, when Sunday's call came in, CRO members working in support of the Broughton Game Show - the year's principal fund-raising day for both Upper Wharfedale Fell Rescue Association (based at Grassington) and CRO - had completed their morning task of parking visitors' cars.  A mountain-biker, (m, 41) having ridden from Kettlewell, pitched forward over his handlebars, descending Long Lane from Churn Milk Hole (Pen y ghent) towards Helwith Bridge.  He sustained chest and knee injuries, along with pain to the sternum.  He also damaged his helmet, possibly in collision with a wall.  Had he not been wearing a helmet, that collision with the wall might have been directly to his head.  After attention and pain-relief from a paramedic, he was carried to an air ambulance, by CRO members, YAS personnel and his companions, then flown to the Royal Lancaster Infirmary.  CRO members returned either to working at the Broughton Game Show or home  to a late lunch.

Note:  This was CRO's 46th (forty-sixth) incident of 2009, as compared with 50 (fifty) in the whole of 2008.  Editors may care to note that while CRO has had only two incidents which involved more than 100 volunteer hours, in the first six months of the year, the team does not record

     calls where our response does not go beyond our Clapham Depot,

     foul-weather (or any other kind of) stand-bys,

     calls received but more properly routed to other teams.