Mountain Rescue Box ransacked

Amidst a surge in call-out numbers on and around Scafell Pike in May, and across the region more broadly, the Mountain Rescue Stretcher box at Mickledore, between Scafell and Scafell Pike, was ransacked over the Bank Holiday weekend just gone, with some kit now missing and other contents strewn around the fell and left open to the elements along with a used disposable BBQ and various items of food waste and rubbish.

The Rescue Box

Wasdale Mountain Rescue volunteers have already been up to sort out the mess left behind and ensure that the rescue kit is in working order. At the same time the team have added some simple signage to the Stretcher box to help point hikers in the right direction in bad weather, and hopefully reduce callouts from lost walkers.

Mess left around the Rescue Box which had been forced open

Penny Kirby, one of the Team Leaders of the local Rescue team said:

We have seen a surge of callouts this year since Easter. May has been especially busy, perhaps due to a combination of 3 Bank holidays, people holidaying more at home due to the costs of overseas holidays and the rising cost of living in general.

The last thing our team of volunteers really want to be doing to is repairing rescue kit and cleaning up disposable BBQ rubbish. We are very concerned about the impact so many callouts are having on our team members, their families, and their work.

We at WalkLakes find this news very disappointing. Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team have already had 70 callouts this year, 27 of them in May. This compares to 42 callouts by the end of May in 2022, and only 5 in the month of May itself. They really don't need to be having to sort out this sort of mess too.

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