Penrith Mountain Rescue Team

29/05/2026

We had an unexpected visitor to our stand whilst fundraising at Rheged last Saturday: Keith Wilson who we assisted Keswick Mountain Rescue Team in rescuing after he'd taken a fall in winter conditions in Central Gully on Great End back in January. It was good to see Keith in good shape!
He has just published a book '9 Lives Lucky' which includes a chapter on the rescue.
The official launch of the book will take place at the summit of Roseberry Topping on the North Yorks Moors this coming Sunday. A portion of the proceeds from sales of the book is being donated by Keith in equal shares to ourselves at Penrith MRT and to our Keswick colleagues. Much appreciated!

29/05/2026

Callout

Date: 26/05/2026
Start time: 11:10
Location: Small Water
Incident Type: Rescue
Other Agencies: Maritime and Coastguard Agency, North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust

Just after 11am the team received a call from Cumbria Police to a female walker suffering from the heat, near to Small Water, Mardale Head. With early signs of heat exhaustion / stroke, a potentially life threatening condition, reported, the team doctor made contact via phone advising the casualty's party to stay put and create shade for the casualty along with actively cooling the casualty using cool wet clothing/towels.

With the team on route to Mardale Head, support was requested from the coastguard helicopter. The team arrived on scene as the coastguard helicopter from Carlisle Lake District Airport arrived. The casualty was transferred to the helicopter and transported the casualty down to Mardale Head where she was met by the team and assisted to an ambulance.

14 Team Members for 3 hours 15 minutes.

20/05/2026

Callout
Date: 17th May 2026
Start time: 14:30
Location: Ullswater Valley
Incident Type: Search, Patterdale MRT assist
Other Agencies: Cumbria Police, Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team, Duddon and Furness Mountain Rescue Team, Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team, Kirkby Stephen Mountain Rescue Team, Kendal Mountain Search & Rescue Team, Maritime and Coastguard Agency Rescue Helicopter 897

The Team were contacted by Patterdale MRT to assist with an ongoing search for a missing person near Ullswater. Team members deployed and were tasked to search footpaths around Pooley Bridge and Howtown, as well as the fell between Heughscar Hill and Loadpot Hill. In the late evening the missing person was located outside of the Penrith search areas and the team stood down and returned to base. See Patterdale's website for the fuller account of the incident: https://www.mountainrescue.org.uk/incidents/

15 team members for 8 hours.

16/05/2026

10th May 2026
Team Training
Knipe Scar

The Team revisited Knipe Scar for their monthly full training day, with quite some contrast in weather conditions from the bitter northerly and snow showers that accompanied our Easter Sunday training. The day's theme was refreshing and practising our casualty care, including assessing and initial treatment of both trauma cases and medical issues. The afternoon involved a scenario with a 'casualty' who had suffered a lower leg injury high up on the Scar. After being assessed, they were packaged and extracted in a stretcher down the Scar. On the descent a Team member became 'unwell' with a deteriorating level of consciousness, bringing an additional challenge to the exercise.
Big thanks to the member of the Friends and a medical student who acted - very convincingly - as casualties.

16/05/2026

We are so very proud of our search dog Morag and her handler Matt, they have been a valuable part of our team for a very long time. Morag was a rescue dog herself who found a wonderful opportunity to have a very important job. Happy Retirement Morag. We will see you for biscuits and games soon! 🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾

14/05/2026

Callout
Date: 11th May 2026
Start time: 13:30
Location: Coombs Wood, Armathwaite.
Incident Type: Rescue
Other agencies: Great North Air Ambulance Service, Keswick Mountain Rescue Team

Amid the large multi-agency search near Kershope – see our previous post – the Team received a call from Cumbria Police alerting them to a climber who had fallen on the crags at Coombs Wood, sustaining severe injuries. He had luckily been found by chance by a walker who happened upon him and stayed with him until the Team arrived. Given the serious nature of the incident, some Team members were diverted from the search, together with five members from Keswick MRT, whilst several more attended from Penrith. In addition the GNAAS air ambulance deployed from Teesside. One of the team's doctors, along with medics from GNAAS, were quickly on scene and able to assess his injuries. Other team members rigged a twin rope system to haul the casualty back to the top of the crag. Once packaged on a stretcher he was extracted back up to the crag top and into a team vehicle for transfer to a NWAS ambulance for onward travel to hospital. Many thanks to the Keswick team memers for assisting with the rescue.

9 Penrith team members along with 5 Keswick MRT for 3.5 hours

13/05/2026

Callout
Date: 10th – 12th May, 2026
Start time: 18:30
Location: Penton/Kershope
Incident Type: Search
Other Agencies: Cumbria Police, Lake District Mountain Rescue Searchdogs, Keswick Mountain Rescue Team, Moffat Mountain Rescue Team, Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team, Kendal Mountain Search & Rescue Team, Kirkby Stephen Mountain Rescue Team, Cockermouth Mountain Rescue Team, Mountain Rescue Search Dogs England, SARDA (Southern Scotland), North Cumbria Search and Rescue, National Police Air Service.

On Sunday the Team were requested by Cumbria Police to help with the search for a missing person near Penton, up on the edge of Kershope Forest. 25 team members, along with search dogs and several Police officers and a Police spotter plane searched late into Sunday night in the area where the person was last seen. With nothing found the team returned to Penrith in the early hours and began preparing for the second day of searching on Monday. More resources were called from across the region including mountain rescue teams from both the Lakes and from Southern Scotland, in addition to more search dogs and drones. Another full day of searching through thick forestry and fellside commenced and despite the best efforts of the nearly 50 mountain rescue volunteers involved nothing was found. On Tuesday searching resumed with the Penrith team, dogs from SARDA (Search and Rescue Dogs Assocation) Southern Scotland and members of NCSAR deploying alongside Cumbria Police. In the late afternoon, a Police dog and its handler found the missing person sadly deceased in an area of forestry. Members of Penrith MRT remained in the area to assist with the extraction whilst Police carried out investigations. Other organisations were stood down. Our thoughts are with the family and friends at this difficult time.

Many thanks to the other teams, services and individuals who contributed and assisted with this huge task. Thanks too to the caretakers of a local property for making it available for the search control and coordination, with access to its facilities.

30 Penrith team members, most of whom attended across multiple days.

05/05/2026

Some of the veterinary nurses at Frame & Swift Limited are doing a sponsored walk, raising money for Penrith mountain rescue team, and to raise awareness of the work that they do

Please help support them if you can

May is Veterinary Nurse Awareness Month 💚

To celebrate, our team is taking on a 20-mile charity walk on 10th May in support of Penrith Mountain Rescue and the Alston Moor Red Squirrel Group 🐾

Please donate via our GoFundMe page — every contribution helps!
https://gofund.me/7447bdc77

02/05/2026

The Team and the Friends will be at Penrith May Day 2026 on Monday (4th). Come and find us at our stall on the corner of Burrowgate and Devonshire Street. Chat to our volunteers about what we do and how. A great range of merch on sale, and samples of our logoed clothing. Items can be ordered from our online shop: https://penrithmrt.org.uk/ and hit the Shop button at the top. Watch out for the Team vehicle in the Green Man parade at 2pm.
Info on Penrith May Day is at https://penrithartsandculture.co.uk/penrith-may-day/

28/04/2026

Safety outdoors Water safety Every year in the UK about 400 people die from drowning as a result of an accident in or around water.   Half of accidental drownings in the UK occur when people didn't intend to go in the water, so simple steps to raise awareness of the risks around water and how they ...