Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Diary

Well, seeing as Dave has decided to take a sabbatical from writing his diary for this year. I have offered to step in to fill the gap (although I hope gap filling does not turn out to be my only useful role in the team). My intention is to explain the reality of attending an incident and the commitment required to be part of a Mountain Rescue team. As with all of these things, the views expressed are my own and in no way meant to reflect the policy of the team. Oh and by the way, to all the team members I upset in writing this…..I’m so, so sorry!

Tues 3rd Jan 2006 – Casualty Care Training

First Monday of the month usually means Casualty Care training, however as yesterday was a bank holiday it’s been postponed to tonight. Steve treats us to a session on circulation, it’s basically a series of questions for us to discuss in teams and attempt to come back with sensible answers. The tone is set for the night when we read the first question: Name three causes of Ischaemic heart disease…..general blank looks fill the room. We shake off our post Christmas brain ache and finally come up with some answers – even more amazingly, they are correct! Steve reminds several members that the next round of Mountain Rescue Casualty Care exams are due in March, a qualification we all need to re-sit every three years. Happily it’s another year before I have to re-sit mine.

Sat 7th Jan 2006 – Call Out

18:45 I am sat at home and I receive a text from Geoff (our Team Leader). It’s a call out to meet at the Hut. I send a message back to say that I am available and put the kettle on. The next ten minutes involves hopping around the house with one leg in my Paramo trousers while trying to make some sandwiches and a drink. Finally, before leaving the house I call Geoff to see if he still needs anyone to pick up the Landrovers. When I arrive at the Hut I find out there are two teenage boys lost in the mist on Kinder. Geoff is in telephone contact with them and has told them to stay put while he sends a team up to collect them. I am on stand-by in case anything more serious develops, this involves make large quantities of coffee and generally staying out of the way! After about half an hour we hear from the first team that the boys are not where they were supposed to be. Things now step up a gear. The Landrovers return from their first drop off and three more teams go up to start a larger search of the area, starting from the point the boys said they ware last at. Despite looking as eager and ready as I could manage, I am still sat at base drinking coffee. Although frustrated that I am not out on the search I understand that a team needs to be held back just in case it turns out that one of them is injured, we would then have to lug all the heavy equipment up to the incident site. Tonight is my turn to wait.

Another hour passes with no sign of the boys, then Geoff comes into the main room and asks Howard and myself to go to the bridge in the middle of Hayfield. Sure enough there they are. It turns out that they attempted an extremely long route over Kinder, the edges of Bleaklow and back to Edale, finally running out of light and steam around Kinder Low. They decided to make their way down below the cloud base and eventually came across a house where they managed to get a lift into Hayfield. While it was not the result we were expecting, at least they are both down safe and well, if a little tired and wiser for the experience.

A further hour or so and all the teams are back, we hold a quick debrief and finally can make our way home.

Wed 11th Jan 2006 – Training – Night Searching Techniques

Tonight we are having our annual training on our night searching techniques in preparation for the night search exercise. We use a “Wall of Light and Sound” approach where if we are looking for a conscious casualty, we stop at regular intervals and use our whistles and torches in a set pattern. The object is to try to let the casualty hear us and hopefully they will start making noise, leading us to them.

Sat 14th Jan 2006 – Call Out

Tonight is the night of the annual night search exercise. By late afternoon I am starting to think about getting my gear organised so that I am not flapping around when we get the call. Suddenly my phone goes off – it’s a real shout. The RV is at the Snake Inn on Snake pass, so it must be a call to assist the Glossop team. I get my gear together and jump in the car. I can’t decide which is the quickest route to the Snake Inn from my house, so as generally happens when you’re in a rush, I manage to choose the slowest one with the most Lorries and Tractors. Just as I am driving up to the top of the pass I see the Landrovers coming back down towards me, as we have been stood down. I smile and wave back politely. Fortunately Geoff has not mastered the art of lip-reading yet! As there are no turning places on the road I end up at the Snake Inn, just in time to see the last of the Glossop team leaving. With a sudden feeling of Billy-No-Matesness I head back to the hut to find some friends.

I return to the hut to find out that the casualty (a 78 year old with two broken legs and severe head injuries) was evacuated by air ambulance. As it turned out, the helicopter could only have waited a further 15 minutes due to its daylight flying restrictions. Any later and we would have been involved in a serious carry-off.

Geoff decides that it’s too late to start the exercise, so I can go home for a meal with my Parents. After all they have driven 100 miles to visit, so I guess it’s only fair!

Wed 18th Jan 2006 – SMS Message

Late evening and I am sat at home watching football when my phone goes off. It’s advanced warning of a callout for tomorrow. The RV is at Edale Teams’ HQ and a further note says that it could be a search for a body.

Thurs 19th Jan 2006 – Call Out

After making arrangements with work to be off for the day (they kindly support my Mountain Rescue activities and allow me time off to attend call outs), I meet up with the rest of the team at Edale base. Chrissie explains that we are looking for a male from Essex who abandoned his car near Castleton the previous Saturday and was known to be depressed.

The area is split up between us, Edale, Buxton and Derby teams. I am in Darren’s team and we are given a slice of hill to search. We line out and sweep across our area and back several times. It is steep and the gorse bushes are think and sharp. We turn up two sheep skulls and a football, but no sign of the man. After we complete our area we have some lunch and then radio in for another search area. Darren cheekily asks for a flatter area to search and we are rewarded with the fields at the bottom of the hill. Our new area is flatter, but in the usual swings and roundabouts way, it is also a lot wetter. After searching for the rest of the day with no results I am starting to run low on energy. We pass a local farm and stop to have a chat with the owner to see if they have noticed anyone in the area. He kindly asks if we would like a coffee, which we obviously accept and two minutes later he appears with drinks and home made chocolates. We have accidentally stumbled across a cottage chocolate factory – heaven! Suddenly my energy returns and we complete our search area. On returning to control it seems that the police are starting to pick up his mobile signal in the next valley, so we leave them to proceed with their enquiries. Fortunately for Mike the police have left behind their stash of pies and he treats us to superhuman display of pie consumption.

Fri 20th Jan 2006 – Team Meeting

A longer than average team meeting, as we don’t hold one at the end of December. We have the usual reports from all the usual suspects and an introduction to a new probationary member and a new member of the support team. As part of Geoff’s team leader briefing he reads us some letters from people who have used our service recently. These include a somewhat apologetic letter from the two boys we searched for on 7th Jan and a very touching letter from the lady we carried off Kinder in November. She told us that she had broken both the bones in her lower leg which required a metal rod inserting. She is out of hospital now and on her way to recovery. We all wish her luck.

Sat 28th Jan 2006 – Annual Team Dinner

Tonight is the Annual team dinner. Mike and Janet have organised a meal at the Royal hotel in Hayfield. The food and beer are excellent and it’s a good opportunity to meet up and chat with team members’ partners who we don’t get to meet very often. John treats us to another one of his famous monologues and manages not to upset the vicar, mainly because she didn’t come this year. Geoff goes on to demonstrate his recent mastery of powerpoint by embarrassing us with photos taken on exercises. He then hands out awards for some dubious categories, which we all take in good humour. We drink and chat until the evening ends, which for some is a lot later than others.