Just 24 minutes after standing the team down from callout 45, we were again called out to locate two lost walkers on Kinder Scout plateau. Information was limited but the south west corner was highlighted as the most likely area to search. Having just returned from the hill, team members knew visibility was limited and this could be a long and extensive search.
Buxton MRT were immediately called to assist us and Kinder hill parties were deployed to Edale Cross by Land Rover to commence searching the high probability areas. Following a review of our limited intel, we discussed the search with the Duty Controller and decided to activate the full Kinder Plan. Edale and Glossop MRTs were then activated, both of whom had also been involved in callouts earlier.
SARLOC was then successful once again and the location identified as north east of Kinder Low trig point. This was right on the search path of our first hill party and they were quickly able to locate the two lost walkers. They were walked back to the waiting Land Rovers and driven back to base in Hayfield.
A second successful callout and once again SARLOC made the search much easier and quicker. This is an invaluable tool that enables us to identify missing walkers locations from the GPS in their mobile phones.
We stood down at 22.50 and now the night was no longer young, but we had successfully found a total of 7 lost walkers and a dog over the previous hours.
Many thanks to our unpaid volunteers for turning out, to the support their families give them and to our friends in Buxton, Glossop and Edale MRTs for assisting. It had been a busy day for the teams around Kinder.
Neil Woodhead
Deputy Team Leader
