Dove Crag, Simonside

Incident Type: Search

On Saturday evening, our teams were activated by Northumbria Police following a 999 call on behalf of a walker who had become lost while out on Simonside. Thanks to a what3words location passed on to the Police, the search area was quickly narrowed to ground between the summit of Simonside and Dove Crag.

At the time of the request, two of our team vehicles were returning south from training in East Lothian and were swiftly diverted to Simonside, with additional local members deployed. With a likely known location, the initial plan was for team members to approach from both the Dove Crag side and the summit end of Simonside to locate the walker and assist them safely off the hill if required.

Both vehicles arrived and team members began their planned approaches. As one vehicle reached the access point below Dove Crag, the walker emerged onto the path, having spotted the blue lights from the ridge above. After a brief welfare check, the walker was safely transported off the hill and reunited with their family.

The incident involved 9 Team members for 1 hour 56 minutes. A further 15 members remained on standby until the incident was resolved.