Published at 15:47, Wednesday, 01 April 2009

WITH 20 years’ experience in the Cockermouth Mountain Rescue team, Derek Tunstall MBE recalled how 60 years ago people only needed a pair of boots and a tin of Elastoplast to spend a day on the fells. Plus fours were not uncommon.

The Coniston rescue team was founded in 1947. Now there are 12 groups covering the Lake District, together with the search and rescue dogs, sophisticated clothing and equipment and helicopters.

The Cockermouth team boasts a modern building, two vehicles bought last year and another that is seven years old, all of which costs £36,000 annually to run, so fundraising is vital.

On probation for their first year and making unusual demands on their families, new members need to be experienced mountaineers, prepared to drop everything at a moment’s notice and to join the mission when they have to carry a quantity of equipment, including hi-tech tools such as a body monitor and defibrillator.

Regular practice runs, including ice-climbing, are held to maintain instant capability in an urgent situation. A large brawny team is needed for those occasions when an injured climber or walker has to be conveyed on a stretcher down the mountain side in all weathers.

Since reception for mobile phones is so poor in the hills, walkers are advised to dial 999 police for assistance, a call which might be picked up by one of the other three servers for the area. Failing that, a text can be sent. Always carry phone numbers of friends and neighbours as a further string to your bow.

Published by http://www.whitehavennews.co.uk