Black Hag, Pennine Way

In a repeat of Thursday’s incident, a Spine Race competitor collapsed at the low and high level split of the Pennine Way between The Schil and Black Hag. They were exhausted and suffering from the effects of the cold.

Our Team Leader received a call from the Spine Race HQ to give us the ‘heads up’ that a 999 call had been made to Northumbria Police requesting Mountain Rescue. Preparations for a swift deployment started, when the activation from the Police was received by the duty controllers, who operate on behalf of North of Tyne Mountain Rescue Team and ourselves.

Thankfully soon after, a further call from the Spine HQ, confirmed the competitor’s condition had stabilised and that they could be evacuated off the hill in the College Valley Estate’s Argocat. The Spine Safety Team lead for Hut 2, who happens to be one of our volunteer Team members, had been taken up the hill in the Argocat to assess the situation.

With this good news, the Teams stood down and did not mobilise. However, the two Team Leaders continued to monitor the competitor’s location to ensure they were safely off the hill.
An exhausting few days for our volunteers are at end!

The incident involved 5 Team members for 1 hour 30 minutes.