Published at 11:56, Friday, 04 January 2013

Growing up in Keswick, Mark Hodgson has always been surrounded by the Cumbrian fells and his love for them is undisguised.

Mark Hodgson MBE: ‘We get letters from just about everybody we help and they always talk about the support and camaraderie’

“It’s whole different experience up there at night,” he says. “When there’s snow on the ground and the stars are out, it’s magical.”

Since his teens he’s been an avid fell walker. These days, however, many of his trips up there are to help other admirers who have got into trouble or injured themselves.

Mark is team leader of Keswwick Mountain Rescue. the band of 45 volunteers who are prepared to head for the hills in all weathers the moment they’re needed.

Last year they received 102 call-outs – two of them on New Year’s Eve. And it’s something Mark’s been doing now for 40 of his 56 years – 19 of them as team leader.

One quite different and unexpected journey he’ll be making in the next six months is to Buckingham Palace to receive the MBE.

When the New Year’s Honour List was published this week, Mark was named as a recipient for his decades of service to mountain rescue.

He was surprised by the news, and happy to accept it on behalf of the whole team.

However to talk to him it’s clear that the work is its own reward – offering as it does the chance to help other people.

“If you are working in some awful weather conditions you have to be doing it for a purpose,” he points out. “Being able to help someone who loves the fells is part of that.

“Yes, that’s rewarding. You do get a buzz out of doing it.”

He adds: “It’s already a huge honour being able to put the skills of all the team members into action, and make sure somebody who’s had an accident gets the best treatment they can on the site, and are then evacuated quickly and efficiently.

“And there’s an element of ‘There but for the grace of God go I’. It could be me tomorrow.”

Mark first got acquainted with the fells through the Scouts. “We did fell walking, rock-climbing and so on. Then as part of my Chief Scout’s Award I had to do some voluntary service, so I used to go down to sort out the equipment after a rescue.

“That was when I was 16. Within a couple of months I was going out on rescues myself.”

There are mountain rescue teams across Cumbria. None of them are paid for their work and Mark points out: “The non-fell walking fraternity don’t always realise that it’s a voluntary service.”

With a maximum capacity of 50, Keswick’s team is almost full at the moment. But for anyone who wants to sign up there are a number of conditions to meet.

The first qualification every member needs is to be and experienced fell walker.

“We need to know that people can look after themselves in all weathers.

“You need a good local knowledge and you need to be physically fit – and available. It’s no good if somebody lives 25 miles away. If the pager goes off, the first vehicle will leave the garage within 10 minutes.”

They now also need to be over 18 but there’s no upper age limit. “It tends to be self-policing. When people feel they can no longer rush up fells carrying a big rucksack then they may decide to take a back seat.”

The mountain rescuer also has to be prepared to drop everything to go out.

Mark’s day job is with a design firm in Whitehaven. “Most of the team work in full-time jobs. But we’re very fortunate in that employers are very accommodating.”

Families have to be accommodating too and he adds: “I’ve missed the odd Christmas dinner or birthday or barbecue, but my family have always been supportive.”

Three of the past four years have been Mark’s busiest to date. He puts it down to the increase in “staycations” – holidays taken within the UK. But he adds: “It’s busy all year round – at night as well as during the day. One of the things about mountain rescue is that it’s completely random. You never know when something’s going to happen.

“If the day is good in the morning people will head out and then in the afternoon the weather deteriorates.”

Keswick Mountain Rescue covers an area of 440 square kilometres, taking in the Skiddaw range, the west side of Helvellyn, two of the approaches to Scafell Pike and the Borrowdale valley – though they will venture further afield, often teaming up with the rescuers from Cockermouth, Penrith or Kirkby Stephen.

They aim to be out within 10 minutes and never know what they’re going to face, so their vehicles carry £85,000 worth of equipment.

There are radios, thermal clothing, medical equipment, GPS satellite for when radios won’t work and 200-metre ropes for lowering stretchers down mountains.

“In 20 per cent of them we’ll need a helicopter – either the air ambulance or an RAF helicopter that can operate in worse weather.”

Usually injuries aren’t life threatening. “The most common injury is a lower leg injury – a sprained ankle or a broken lower leg bone.”

But there are also upsetting incidents. There are serious injuries to deal with and sometimes deaths on the mountains, though he’s unwilling to recall examples.

Very occasionally there’s a slightly comical situation. “Somebody once got their knee stuck in a crack in the rock,” he recalls. “We had to use fairy liquid and all sorts.

“A sense of humour can be a great comfort to people. We get letters from just about everybody we help and they always talk about the support and camaraderie and the non-critical approach we take.”

Experienced walkers can get into difficulty as well as those who are ill equipped, but Mark says the team never goes in for any finger-wagging.

“You might have somebody who just goes up in normal shoes. But people don’t go out intending to have an accident.

“If they have no torch or map and compass with them we may have a quiet word, but it’s not the philosophy to criticise anybody. Most people are embarrassed about having to be rescued.”

The MBE came as a surprise for Mark and he is modest about it. “To get an award for doing what you love doing anyway is quite something.”

And like many recipients he’s accepting it on behalf of all of the rescuers he works with. “It’s for the team. No one person can do a mountain rescue on their own.”

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