"Head and Leg Injury at Nates Needle"  (see note*)

Great Gable - 2 May 04

* when the team paging system is used operator sometimes gets the details wrong 

4/15: 2/5/04 (1509 hrs) - Sunday

A call came from Workington Police regarding a 11 year old who had sustained a head and leg injury at Napes Needle, Great Gable.  The casualty was actually in the Tophet Wall area by the side of Great Hellgate.  Due to the nature of the injuries an RAF Helicopter was requested immediately.  It arrived on scene before the team got onto the fell as it was already in the air when it was requested..  The injured boy was treated on the scene by the RAF Winchman, winched into the helicopter and transported to Whitehaven Hospital. The incident was closed at around 1730 hrs.  There is a fuller account of the rescue further down this page as one of our team members was out walking with his wife when he got the call.  They were only 30 minutes away so managed to get to the casualty at about the same time as the helicopter.  

The following is an account of the rescue as told by one of our team members who was close by, and the incident as described by the father of the boy who was injured.  The story has been edited to remove the names of the casualty party.  It has been included with kind permission of his father in order to promote greater awareness of the causes of  accidents and how easily they can occur.

Team ready to go at Gavel Knees (foot of Great Gable) - the incident was at the top left of picture.

The following is the story as recalled by a Wasdale MRT member who was close by:

We were on our way up the North West ridge of Great End scrambling directly up from Styhead tarn. I stopped for a swig of water and heard the bleep start up. It was early  afternoon (1515 hrs) so unlikely to be a test and I scrabbled in the bag to extract the bleep from various plastic bags.

       “Head and leg injury at Nates Needle”

Thoughts: “Napes” not “Nates”. Sounds like a climbing accident on the needle or needle ridge. Could be serious – even life threatening. Quite close to here – could be there in 20 mins. Better go. 

Penny arrived  - “Shall we go to Napes Needle now?” - “Huh? What are you on about?”.

I showed her the bleep, we agreed how to get there and set off quickly down to the path from Sprinkling tarn. Galloped along to the stretcher box at Styhead and raided the kit. Grabbed a dressing , splint, cas bag, bothy shelter, neck supports, bivvy bag and shared it out, then set off again towards the Napes. There were climbers on Kern Knotts crack but in no apparent difficulty. On along the traverse and up to Great Hell Ghyll where a lady coming the other way advised there was a boy, about 10yr old, fallen and injured in the scree of Great Hell Ghyll and pointed out the location. 

Should I try to contact base?   No, get there and assess the casualty first.  Crossed the ghyll and slogged up the scree.. There was a small group of people on the scree just at the foot of Tophet Wall.  Attempted to make contact from 100 metres but no response.  I heard the noise of an approaching helicopter combined with the sirens of the team vehicles down in the valley.   The helicopter hovered by just below and I succeeded in getting their attention and pointing out the group.  Continued up and about twenty metres below the group was able to confirm they had an injured person. Up loose scree and over boulders to find a small boy sitting below a large boulder in a foil survival bag with two climbers and father in attendance.

He was conscious, with eyes open but blood streaked and bruised face. He responded slowly to questioning but gave his name.  -  will need to get that spelt – later.   The story from his father and climbers was he’d fallen / tripped while descending the scree, bashed his head and damaged his ankle so he couldn’t move. No-one witnessed the fall but the young boy said he’d fallen a “long way”. There was blood on a football sized rock a few metres to the side.  I guessed he’d fallen a couple of body lengths.   They had carried him to the shelter of the boulder and wrapped him up.   No other injuries reported, no other pain and bleeding from the head had stopped. They’d been there over 2 hours! . A strong wind was blowing down the ghyll and  I opened out the bothy shelter to warm us up a bit.   His hands were warm so unlikely to be suffering from shock. There was a 3 - 5 cm split in the top of his head and bruises to the right temple but he’d not been unconscious and  pupils were normal so head injuries may not be too serious.   Left ankle very swollen and distorted – bent in about 40 degrees – likely broken fibula at least.   Had pain in his ankle and head.    Had already been given paracetamol.

I decided to contact base to confirm the position and had to move across the scree to a grassy spur to get a phone signal.  As I got there the helicopter came in very close and despite getting through to Millforge [the rescue base in Gosforth, 6 miles away] it was impossible to hear anything.  Started back across the scree.  After giving us a good sandblasting the helicopter moved across to above another large boulder in the gully,  dropped in closer and started lowering a man on the winch.  A few tennis ball sized rocks hurtled down past my unprotected head and I wished I had a helmet.

I made contact and briefed the RAF man what I knew. (I told him I was with WMRT but out on the hill separately – he asked if the rest of the team were on their way which I confirmed and said I’d heard the vehicle sirens in the valley).  He had a paramedic label on his coverall. We checked together for other injuries,  checked spine and neck for pain.  Smallest neck collar I had was a medium which looked far too large and all the indications were that there was no spinal injury.  I returned to the spur to contact Millforge to confirm our position.

We needed to imobilise the left leg before we could  winch him and Penny arrived with the box splint from the stretcher box just at the right time.  It was much too long but after cutting about 15 cms off the top we were able to imobilise the leg and ankle reasonably well. We fixed one strop to the casualty's chest and another  under his knees and called in the helicopter. Everyone held whatever they could over their heads as the chopper descended and the scree started to fly again.  The RAF man quickly clipped himself and the casualty into the hook and up they went.   The boy gave a little wave as he went up so must have been getting something positive from the experience!

The walking party had been five strong, they’d been up Great Gable and were descending via Great Hell Ghyll.  The boy had fallen on the scree and with assistance from climbers nearby they’d put him in a relatively safe place.   The father  had remained at the scene while three members of the party had descended to raise the alarm – they were not carrying a mobile phone but had one in the car at the Green.  It seems they had to go all the way down before the incident was reported to the police.

We returned past Kern Knotts with the father who then set off down the Styhead track.  We returned to the stretcher box to replaced the kit (including the cut-off end of the box splint).  The splint will need to be replaced if required.  Then caught up with the father back down the Styhead track and took details from him at the Hotel. He went off to the Green to find his car and the rest of his party but it seems they had gone to Whitehaven.  I last saw him by the Barn Door shop awaiting their return.

Thanks go to a fellow walker who was in the area when the helicopter arrived and took the following photos.

Tophet Wall is the large buttress in the centre of the picture.  Great Hellgate scree run is funneled down from the top.  Napes Needle is middle far left.  The casualty is located by the big boulders at the bottom of Tophet Wall.
The helicopter arrives from RAF Boulmer and inspects the area
The helicopter drops an orange smoke bomb to give an indication of wind speed and direction.  Important for the approach and casualty lift
Helicopter returns after dropping off the Winchman (Paramedic) who will prepare the casualty for evacuation.
Helicopter in position for the final casualty lift.  The casualty was lifted by fitting a strop around his chest and one under his knees.  The Winchman and casualty were lifted together on a long winch-wire.  Once they were safely on board the helicopter it flew the casualty the 10 minute journey to West Cumberland Hospital.

The following is the story as recalled by the father of the casualty:

Can you please convey our heartfelt thanks to all the members of the WMRT and RAF chaps. My son enjoyed the chopper ride and commented that the downhill walk would be speedy but not as speedy as what transpired!

My personal thanks to both Colin and Penny who both went out of their way to assist us.  My son suffered a fracture of both his Tibia and Fibula in the left leg just above the ankle. The head injury required 7 stitches and all other injury were superficial - severe grazing and bruising to the face. He was discharged from West Cumberland Hospital earlier than they wanted on Tuesday 4th May at 1730 hrs.  My son's left leg is in plaster all the way up to his groins and currently practising walking with his crutch's. The account by Colin is accurate. The team of 3 lady climbers from Manchester arrived soon after I had moved my son to a safer location.  I only moved my son after a detailed assessment and with an awareness that help was at least 2 hours away and I had to place him in a more comfortable position.  He was initially propped on a steeper loose scree section of the slope and moved approximately 15 metres towards the Tophet Wall.  The group of ladies who came to the rescue, had walked up the Gable to climb the Tophet Wall and sadly missed the climb due to the incident and I feel really sorry that the
incident affected so many individuals who were put out of their way and admire their selflessness in assisting my son.  I can not thank everyone enough.

My son's recollection of the incident is that a sharp gust of wind unbalanced him and to gain balance he tried to wedge his left leg on the nearest rock at which stage he broke his leg and then somersaulted over the rock gashing his head and tumbled probably 15 to 20 metrs.  When he sat up he couldn't move his leg and was bleeding badly from his nose and head.  He
shouted for help to a pair of climbers on the Tophet Wall at the time.  After a few minutes I had managed to catch up with him and immediately sent the rest of the party to continue the walk down and get help.  In the meantime, one of the climber's on Tophet Wall offered his mobile, which was located at the base of the wall. I moved my son to a safer location and then went to locate the rucksack with the mobile at which stage the group of lady climbers arrived.  We made several attempts on the mobile from different locations but did not get the coverage.  A separate group of walkers then arrived, who's mobile appeared to work and they then made contact with the Police and subsequently the Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team and co-ordinated the RAF Helicopter.  The rest is detailed by Colin. 

My son is young and I hope he will mend quickly - my challenge is to ensure he is not put-off by this unfortunate incident and hope to be walking the fells with him, when he has recovered.

Thanking you once again.
Lessons learnt:

* all our mobiles were in the car. It would have been useful to carry
a couple with different networks.
* More training to my son on expecting the unexpected, in terms of
balancing and different safety techniques in mountain walking.
* Carry painkillers with first aid.

Thank you to the father and son for kindly allowing us to reprint this story for the benefit of others.

Page created 25/5/04