2024: A record year for Lake District mountain rescue?
With year-on-year mountain rescue call-outs up by 5 per cent and fatalities soaring by 100 per cent, we delve into the stats and ask whether 2024 is set to be a record year for the service.
Words: John Manning
Heart attacks, paraglider accidents, hypothermia and walkers parting company on the fell have all contributed to a busy first half-year for Lakeland’s mountain rescue teams, which have seen year-to-date incidents rise by 5 per cent and fatalities soar by 100 per cent.
The 12 teams represented by the Lake District Search and Mountain Rescue Association (LDSAMRA) had received 418 emergency calls by 23 July, 2024 compared with 401 for the same period in 2023 – which was their busiest year on record. The start of the summer holiday in July has added pressure, with teams responding to 14 cries for help over the weekend of 20-21 July.
This year’s incident figures are in line with a long-term rising trend. LDSAMRA spokesman Richard Warren said that the summer holiday months would keep teams busy. “July and August are always our busiest months,” he said. “The number of call-outs tends to be in proportion to the number of people on the mountain, which is a no-brainer: on busy weekends, when the weather’s good, you get loads of people going up the mountains, and we generally get more incidents.”
A rising trend: 23 years of call-outs
The above graph shows callout figures for all Lake District teams over the past 23 years. With the figure standing at 418 as of 21 July, the trend suggests a record year of around 750 may be in store (projection shown in blue), beating last year’s high of 714.
But one-off incidents make such predictions unreliable.
Richard points out that 2023’s figures were skewed by a dump of snow in the south of the county on 2 December. “We had 67 call-outs in just three days,” he said. “A massive amount of effort went in over that period – on a single recorded callout we might have had to check as many as 14 cars trapped in snow – and it skewed the figures in the same way that the Beast from the East storm whacked up the figures in 2018 [to 656].”
Various Lakeland teams are feeling the pressure. Amy Reed, spokeswoman for Duddon and Furness MRT, said: “2023 saw a record number of 83 call-outs for our team. With just under 40 call-outs to date already this year, numbers look set to remain high for another year. A normal year would be between 40 and 50.”
LDSAMRA team members have already committed more than 22,000 hours this year, with Wasdale contributing around 6,000 of those. Of the 418 ‘999’ calls to date so far in 2024, 38 per cent have involved injuries – primarily ankle, lower leg and head injuries – while 10 per cent were down to medical emergencies, primarily dizziness, heart attacks and hypothermia.
Richard said a significant proportion of incidents handled by the Lakeland teams were regarded as “avoidable”, and risked drawing resources away from incidents involving injuries or risk to life. “One of the main causes of avoidable call-outs is people separating – groups splitting up – and less-experienced members trailing further and further behind,” he said. “They often lack the equipment or knowledge about what they have taken on. It’s a common theme.”
For example. the Wasdale team, of which Richard is chairman, recently helped a 69-old who had become crag-fast on Scafell Pike. “He had been out with his brother but they had separated on the summit” said Richard. “One had hurt himself and wanted to get down, so the other said he’d tidy up and catch up – and off he went in the wrong direction. People separating is a real problem. Groups should always stick together to take care of each other.”
Hypothermia – a dangerous drop in core body temperature – featured in a number of incidents. In January, following a two-day search, Penrith MRT found the body of an ultra runner and orienteer who had succumbed to hypothermia on Cross Fell in the North Pennines.
Keswick MRT deputy team leader Craig Dring said even experienced fell-runners were vulnerable as they tend to be lightly equipped and push their bodies to the limit. “Fell-runners and walkers need to be aware of the process by which they can quickly get colder. Even if they’re uninjured, their cognitive senses decline as they’re cooling, meaning they’re less likely to make good decisions – such as calling for help. Runners might be ten or 15 minutes from the end of their run and think they can make it back unaided, but things can go wrong.”
Fatalities
This year’s 100 per cent rise in outdoor fatalities compared to 2023, while significant, is roughly in line with the numbers of call-outs. “There have been 16 fatalities so far, double the eight in the same period last year,” said Richard. “Most have involved cardiac arrests – heart attacks – but there have also been two paraglider accidents, some head injuries, a case of hypothermia, a young girl who sadly died on Jack’s Rake and, unfortunately, a number of people who have taken their own lives.
“But there is no underlying pattern. The number of heart attacks has been noticeable, but we cannot be sure whether they might be – for example – heat-related cardiac arrests or whether they might reflect people with existing heart conditions.
“It’s surprising how many people on the hill say they have a heart condition. People now recognise the health benefits – both mental and physical – of getting outdoors whereas, a few years ago, people with heart trouble might have been more likely to stay at home. It’s true that fresh air and exercise get everything working better, but it may also contribute to the rise we’ve seen in the number of cardiac arrests.”
While there has been a steady increase in the number of call-outs attended by Lakeland teams over the last 24 years – probably attributable to the growth in outdoor activities – there has not been a corresponding rise in fatality numbers. Indeed in the last decade, only four of the last ten years have been above the long-term average of 20.9 deaths per year. Moreover, fatalities are falling in proportion to the number of call-outs.
“Years ago there was a higher ratio of fatalities, in part because of a lack of communications,” confirms Craig. “There were no mobile phones with which to summon help quickly, teams didn’t have radios, there was less helicopter support and as a result there were more fatalities.”
The big picture
2023 was busy for all 47 Search and Mountain Rescue teams across England and Wales, with only nine call-out free days. In total, teams received 3,462 calls leading to 2,775 deployments, almost 25 per cent of which involved one or more of the 12 teams covering the Lake District.
Across England and Wales, the busiest teams were Llanberis (with 309 calls) and Ogwen Valley (173). Edale, in the Peak District, had 157. Wasdale was Lakeland’s busiest team, with 163 call-outs, while Keswick and Langdale Ambleside teams handled 112 and 116 respectively, and the other nine shared almost 400 between them, with most handling more than 50 calls. The only Lakeland team with a quieter-than-average 2023 was Patterdale – possibly due to the lengthy closure of the Kirkstone Pass deterring visitors. It still dealt with 61 ‘shouts’.
Sally Seed, spokesperson for Mountain Rescue England and Wales said the overall feeling was that 2023’s increase was driven by higher visitor numbers to tourist hotspots and a corresponding increase in numbers heading outdoors ill-prepared and ill-equipped. The peak time for rescues was between noon and 5pm when people were descending from the hills, though Wasdale team members were often involved in night-time searches on Scafell Pike, England’s highest mountain, and, together with Ben Nevis in Scotland and Yr Wyddfa in North Wales, part of the national Three Peaks challenge.
More on Facebook: lakedistrictsearchandmountainrescueassociation
More on Adventure Smart: www.adventuresmart.uk/lake-district-cumbria/
I think the underlying story is more people up enjoying the fells = more MR call outs. And more people enjoying the fells has to be a good thing. As a mathematical note, if the underlying average fatalities is 21 we should expect a year on year fluctuation of +/- 4 or 5 . (Expected variation is square root of expected number) So don't read much into an increase of 4 as it could well be a random effect.