Man dies in fall from ridge in Blencathra

A person has died in a 230ft (70m) fall from a mountain ridge.

The alarm was raised following the autumn from Sharp Edge on Blencathra, within the Lake District, on Thursday afternoon.

Keswick Mountain Rescue Crew volunteers recovered the person’s physique, which was transported to the air ambulance and flown to the crew’s base.

The crew has thanked different fell walkers who went to assist, and has provided condolences to the person’s household.

It stated in a social media put up: “Our first call-out of the yr had a tragic ending after a person died in a 70m fall from Sharp Edge.

“A Keswick crew member already on Blencathra made his solution to the scene above Scales Tarn, together with the crew of Helimed 58, who landed close by.

“Keswick crew recovered the physique to H58 who then airlifted the person to Keswick MR Base.”

Sharp Edge, one of many ridges of Blencathra, is described by famend Lakeland author Alfred Wainwright as a “rising crest of bare rock of sensational and spectacular look”.

It’s a well-liked, if difficult, strolling route – a grade 1 scramble requiring the usage of each palms and ft, and has a excessive stage of publicity.

Keswick Mountain Rescue Crew stated yearly folks received into hassle on the ridge, as though dry circumstances “ought to current few issues to competent hill walkers” it turned “notoriously slippy” when moist, and ought to be prevented except skilled or effectively ready.

Between 1949 and 2018 there have been 11 fatalities, and in October 2021 a person died traversing it as a part of his preparations to scale Mount Kilimanjaro.