Peak District wild campers rescued from Kinder Scout after ‘underestimating’ Storm Kathleen

On Saturday, April 6, the Kinder Mountain Rescue Team (KMRT) were called to assist two young men on Kinder Scout.

A KMRT spokesperson said: “Due to poor telephone reception from the casualty site, there was very limited information available from the original 999 call. We were unable to contact the casualty party on their phone. We had a starting point for their trip (with limited confidence that this was correct), at Carr Meadow on the Hayfield to Glossop Road and a 90 minute travel time, but no information about their current location.

“We understood that the casualties were uninjured but had been caught out by Storm Kathleen whilst wild camping.

“Three Kinder parties set off in stormy conditions on corridor searches up likely routes towards Kinder Scout. Just as we were about to call for assistance from other MR teams and search dogs, we were able to find an alternative phone number which had better reception.

“We were able to speak briefly with them and get a location from their phone. This allowed us to go straight to their location, where we found the casualties uninjured. We were able to walk them off to our vehicles and drive them to base. After warming, tea and biscuits we drove them back to their car in Edale.

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“The two young men were reasonably well-equipped, but underestimated the impact of Storm Kathleen on the top of Kinder Scout. They were very apologetic to us. They had made an honest mistake and will learn from it in what we hope will be a lifetime of enjoying the mountains safely. Kinder MRT rescue anybody in difficulties on the hill, without judgement.”

Kinder Mountain Rescue Team is staffed by volunteers who give their time free of charge and is funded entirely by public donations – a link to their fundraising site can be found here.