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'Social media doesn't show you trauma of mountain rescue'

Alison Freeman
BBC News, North East & Cumbria
BBC Four people in orange jackets walk down a grassy hill pulling an empty stretcher. They are heading towards two white Land Rovers with orange and green markings, with a lake and hills beyondBBC
Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team had 110 call outs last year

Mountain rescue teams say they could reach breaking point due to a rapid increase in the number of call-outs. Volunteers share their experiences with a hope of making people take safety more seriously.

Social media shows the "nice bits" of walking in the Lake District, Matt Neilson says.

"You don't see the trauma and the bodies that we have to carry off when it goes wrong," he adds.

It's a warm late-spring day and builder Mr Neilson is on the site of his latest property development, a barn conversion just outside of Greystoke in Cumbria.

Matt Neilson looks at the camera. He has short thick fair hair, very faint stubble and is wearing an orange mountain rescue jacket. He is standing in front of a stone house he is building.
Matt Neilson is a builder and mountain rescue volunteer

He's his own boss so can decide when he is available to respond to rescues with the other volunteers in the Patterdale team, where he is a deputy leader.

At a moment's notice, he could be on his way to a call-out, leaving behind his workers, wife or teenage sons to carry on whatever he was doing.

"You end up prioritising mountain rescue when you know that there are people on the fell that are stuck and other of the team who need help," he says.

Matt Cox looks at the camera. He is bald with a ginger beard and glasses. Behind him is a large lake and trees. he is wearing an orange jacket with the Patterdale Mountain Rescue team crest on the breast
Matt Cox is the leader of the Patterdale team

The number of calls Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team receives is growing steadily each year.

In 2023 there were 61 call-outs, in 2024 that had soared to 110, with the team's patch including the hills around Ullswater, Helvellyn and the notorious Striding Edge that has claimed a number of lives.

"This year I would expect, if the numbers continue at the rate that they are, we'll probably be pushing 140, 150," team leader Matt Cox says.

"At some point, as a small team, we're going to start to struggle with that."

Does he think the team might be reaching breaking point?

"Certainly for the teams in the Lake District, I wouldn't say we were quite at breaking point yet, but we're definitely heading in that direction," he says candidly.

Duncan Leatherdale A walker in a blue shirt nears the top of a steep rocky hill. Beyond him is a craggy line of rocks with steep sides either side sloping down. The slope on the left ends in a large blue tarn. There are other hills beyond.Duncan Leatherdale
The Patterdale Mountain Rescue teams has Striding Edge in its patch

Another of the team's volunteers is Dr Dan Jones, a GP specialising in the rehabilitation of older people at Penrith Hospital.

He works with nurses and physiotherapists to help those who have undergone treatment in hospital get well enough to go home.

"I honestly think I have saved more lives in mountain rescue than on a frail and elderly ward," the father-of-three says.

Dan Jones looks at the camera. He has short brown hair and is clean shaven. He is wearing a blue shirt and orange mountain rescue jacket. Behind him is a single storey hospital building
Dr Dan Jones is also a keen fell runner

"Because when people get cold and wet and stuck, they really need you. And to think you are helping them like that is a good thing."

A fell runner in his spare time, he enjoys his work with Patterdale Mountain Rescue.

"It's the unpredictability of the call-outs that's sometimes more difficult for me," he says. "Balancing a full time job, a family and mountain rescue is tricky.

"It's a big commitment and it's more than I probably realised when I ed."

Dr Jones says most people who call them out do not realise they are all volunteers.

"We often get comments saying 'oh this must be a nice job' or 'what do you do when you're not on rescues":[]}