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Kinder Mountain Rescue Team area

The Kinder Mountain Rescue Team is based in Hayfield in the Peak District, Derbyshire. We provide mountain rescue cover for the Plateau of Kinder Scout, and its western edges towards Stockport. We also assist other Peak District Mountain Rescue Teams, particularly Glossop Mountain Rescue Team on Bleaklow and Buxton Mountain Rescue Team in the Goyt Valley and in Macclesfield Forrest.

We do not draw fixed boundaries between our operational area and those of our neighbouring mountain rescue teams. The Peak District Mountain Rescue controllers decide when and where we get deployed, according to the nature of the incident, and the manpower required.

We are most active in the area of Kinder Scout itself and westwards to the hills and countryside surrounding Hayfield and New Mills. We regularly get called to assist other teams in the Peak District, and occasionally to incidents outside the Peak Park, such as missing persons searches in urban areas. We have provided search teams for the Lockerbie air disaster, and have travelled down to Northampton to participate in missing child searches.

The summit of Kinder Scout is the highest point in the Peak District, at 636 metres. The term summit however is a bit of a misnomer. It is really only the highest recorded part of what is otherwise a flat plateau, and is marked by an unremarkable stake in the ground. Nevertheless, the Western edges of Kinder Scout offer the rambler and outdoor enthusiast a remarkable blend of mountain and moorland, easily accessible from Glossop, Hayfield or Chapel-en-le-Frith.

The very accessibility and proximity of the Peak Park to the major towns of Manchester, Stockport and Sheffield make it a popular day trip destination. With 25 million people living within a 2 hour car ride, the Peak District attracts over 22 million day visitors per year. It is the second most visited national park in the world, after Mount Fuji. It therefore attracts people of all abilities, levels of fitness, those well equipped, and some not so well equipped.

The popular paths on the western approaches to Kinder Scout offer a steady climb from the High Peak villages or roads. They pass over grouse moors many following valleys cut by the moorland streams. Rising past craggy outcrops of grey millstone grit, they eventually reach the plateau of Kinder itself. The plateau is a flat area of peatland about 7Km wide and 3 Km high, in the shape of an arrowhead pointing East. The popular paths run along the edges of the plateau and are generally well marked.

Moving off the edge path and into the peat moor, the scene changes considerably. Over the centuries the peat has been cut away to the underlying rock by a complex network of streams to form the peakland 'Groughs'. These are deep V shaped furrows in the peat. Often over head height, they are the naturally formed drainage channels off the moor. Crossing this area should only be done if one is confident in navigation, and equipped with a compass and map. The peat is generally safe underfoot, but you can expect to sink in up to your knees during wet periods. Be cautious. Many of our call-outs are for lower leg injuries caused by misjudging the surface, causing falls, strains or sprains. Crossing the plateau can be hard and dirty work, but its very bleakness gives it a unique beauty which is a reward in itself.

Possibly the most visited feature in our area is the Kinder Downfall. Being on the plateau edge path it is readily found, and a popular lunch stop for the hardy souls who have made it that far.

A network of drainage channels to the south east of the downfall feed into each other and eventually form the Kinder river. The river widens into wide sandy gully, and passes through the twin rocks of Kinder Gates. Further downstream it reaches the edge of the plateau and plummets into a deep rocky gorge, the Downfall. When the wind is blowing from the west it is funnelled into the V shaped amphitheatre, with the Downfall at its head. The rush of wind up the rocky funnel is too much for the waterfall, and it is blown back upstream from the edge. On a clear day, the upward plume of water is visible from miles away.

Often reduced to a trickle during dry periods, the downfall is best viewed after a period of heavy rain.