Published at 12:02, Monday, 27 February 2012

A man suffered serious injuries when he fell 50ft from Sharp Edge on Blencathra – one of two mountain rescues in the Lake District yesterday.

The man in his forties is said to have taken a “tumbling fall” into the gully while descending the ridge, sustaining serious head, facial and leg injuries.

Twenty four members of Keswick Mountain Rescue Team were called out at 2.30pm to carry out the rescue and air support was summoned.

An air ambulance managed to drop off a doctor and paramedic but was then forced to withdraw due to bad weather.

The cloud then descended and as a consequence mountain rescuers had to lower the casulty 150ft. Only then could a Sea King helicopter from RAF Boulmer fly the man to the Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle for treatment.

The rescue took more than five and a half hours.

Elsewhere, members of the Wasdale team were called out later to help two men who had become lost on Scawfell Pike, near Green Moss. In a rescue lasting more than four hours, the rescuers found the men.

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