Wasdale Mountain Rescue team was formed in September 1968 to carry out rescues in the Wasdale and Blengdale valleys. It sat between the neighbouring teams of Cockermouth MRT and Eskdale Outward Bound.

At that time the Eskdale valley was covered by the Eskdale Outward bound but in April 1994 the Eskdale Outward Bound Rescue Team was disbanded following a review which reduced the Lake District’s 15 teams down to 12. The Eskdale team amalgamated with Wasdale and the small number of full time Eskdale Outward Bound team members moved across into the Wasdale team.

The team’s new headquarters is located just outside Gosforth and is centrally positioned to the area covered by the team. Wasdale MRT’s operational patch extends from Whitehaven in the north down to Waberthwaite in the south, the coast to the west and Great Gable / Styhead / Esk Hause / Hardknott Pass / Harter Fell to the east.

The area includes around 40 of the Lake District’s fells including the most popular walking routes of Pillar, Great Gable, Scafell and Scafell Pike. Scafell Pike, the highest mountain in England at 3,209ft (978m), is the most popular and claims the greatest number of incidents. This is primarily due both to it being one of the main destinations for walkers and climbers but also having some of the team’s most notorious incident black spots, Broad Stand and Piers Gill.

The area includes two of the regions 3,000ft peaks, significant sections of the Bob Graham round, and is the central destination for the national ‘Three Peak Challenge’ which inevitably is tackled at night for those hoping to complete Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon within 24 hours.

Along with these popular challenges and with many classic climbing routes and scrambles, it comes as no surprise that the team is one of the busiest in the country with more than 100 incidents to deal with each year. Incidents are split between lower limb injuries, medical emergencies and searches for lost and missing walkers.

The team has 38 fully trained team members with a number of mentored probationers undergoing training each year. In addition to having core mountain rescue skills including mountain rescue casualty care, rope rescue and search management, the team also has specialist swift water rescue technicians, a group of coxswain/boat handlers and fully qualified blue light drivers.

There is a qualified search dog handler within the team, both handler and search dog Jess are also members of the Lake District Mountain Rescue Search Dog Association. The team also has a qualified drone pilot.

The team is a registered charity with nine trustees including four duty team leaders who manage incidents on a flexible rota basis.

Contact details: httm://www.wmrt.org.uk