Registered charity 1134872 · On call every day of the year
38 unpaid volunteers covering 420 square kilometres of fell, crag and water. Around seventy callouts a year, every one of them paid for by donations.
Callout log · updated 7 September 2026
We publish each incident within 48 hours of standing down. Names are never given and locations are rounded to the nearest feature so casualties cannot be identified.
| No. | Date | Location | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| 071 | 6 Sep | Scarth Cragnorth face, second pitch | Lowered from crag, stretcher to the road, helicopter to hospital air |
| 070 | 4 Sep | Blea Tarn pathabove the boathouse | Assessed and monitored, walked off slowly with the team, ambulance at the road walked |
| 069 | 30 Aug | Ravens Edgeeast gully | Located by voice and torch, roped down the gully, both uninjured rope |
| 068 | 29 Aug | Harrowdale Becklower woods to the tarn | Found safe and cold by a search dog at 01:10, reunited with family search |
| 067 | 24 Aug | Kettle Pikesummit plateau | Splinted, pain relief, stretcher carry of 3 km to the vehicle stretcher |
| 066 | 21 Aug | Fellside roadhairpin below the pass | Stabilised on scene, handed to the road ambulance handover |
| 065 | 17 Aug | High Stile ridgewest shoulder | Site secured and casualty packaged, air ambulance lift from the ridge air |
| 064 | 15 Aug | Lower Grisedalebridleway junction | Warmed, fed and walked off with two members, no hospital needed walked |
Year to date · 1 January to 6 September 2026
Every figure here is taken from the incident reports we file with the regional search and rescue association. The footnotes say how each number is counted.
711
Callouts
Up from 58 at the same point in 2025
842
People assisted
Including 6 dogs, counted separately
4,9123
Volunteer hours
Callouts only, training not included
38%4
Called out after dark
27 of 71 pages between dusk and dawn
23 min5
Median time to leave base
From the pager going off to the vehicle rolling
£1,3526
Cost of an average callout
Running costs divided by callouts, 2025 accounts
Donate · the team costs £96,000 a year to keep on call
No salaries, no office. Every pound goes on kit, vehicles, training and the base. Gift Aid adds 25p to every pound if you pay tax in Britain.
£40
buys a headtorch and spare cells for one probationer.
Every member carries two. A torch is the difference between a night search and a wait until morning.
Give £40How to call for help
The police hold our pagers. Calling them is the only way to reach the team on the hill, and it is free from any phone, even one with no credit.
999
Ask for the police, then ask for mountain rescue.
112 works the same way. If you are abroad or your phone shows no network, either number will still try every mast it can reach.
Put on every layer you have and get off the wind. Sit the casualty on a rucksack. A cold casualty deteriorates faster than an injured one.
The operator will connect you to the police control room, and they page us. If the first call drops, ring again. Do not rely on a text.
A six-figure grid reference is best. A what3words address or a named feature is fine. Say the fell, the path and the last thing you passed.
If you have signal, the police will send a text with a link. Open it. It sends us your phone's position. Say yes when they ask if you will accept it.
Number in the party, the injury, whether the casualty is conscious and breathing, and what kit you have. Your phone number, said slowly.
We will ring you back, possibly more than once. Turn the screen brightness down to save the battery. When you hear us, shout or flash a torch, six flashes then a pause.
Register your phone for emergency texts before you go: text register to 999 and follow the reply. Then a text to 999 gets through on a signal too weak for a call.
Failing that, send the strongest two people to the nearest road or house with a written note of the location, the time and the injury.
Our patch · 420 square kilometres
Base is in Harrowdale village at the head of the valley. Anywhere on this map is between fifteen minutes and three hours on foot from the vehicle.
Volunteer training · a year to the callout list
Probationers train with the full team every Tuesday evening and one weekend a month. Twelve months and a pass at each stage earns a pager.
A written application, a chat at the base, then a day on Kettle Pike in whatever the weather is doing. We are looking for fitness, judgement and whether you are still cheerful at 4 in the afternoon.
Map, compass and pacing to a grid reference in cloud, then the same in the dark. Assessed on a night exercise across Ravens Edge with no head torch for the last leg.
A four-day course and written exam covering fractures, head injuries, hypothermia, pain relief and the drugs we carry. Renewed every three years for the whole team.
Lowering systems, crag rescue and the stretcher over rough ground. Most of the summer is spent on Scarth Crag learning to be the one on the end of the rope.
How a search is planned, how to run a line and what to say on a radio so the control vehicle can hear you. Working with the search dogs and their handlers on live exercises.
A full-day exercise with a scripted casualty, watched by the training officer and a member from a neighbouring team. Pass, and you are on the callout list from December.
Applications open 1 October 2026
Closing 14 November. Up to six places. Hill day on Saturday 10 January 2027, meeting at the base at 8 in the morning.
Write to the training officer