Incident report

Buxton Mountain Rescue Team called to support Edale MRT in a search for a 17 year old male from Halifax who had become benighted on Bleaklow after setting off from Holme, West Yorkshire.

Woodhead MRT and Glossop Mountain Rescue Teams were also called together with a number of S.A.R.D.A. dogs for what started as something of a needle in a haystack search of the moors on a wet and misty night.  However, an experienced M.R. Search Controller, using an understanding of missing person behaviour and a sound knowledge of the geographical area, soon narrowed the target area.

Team members used team vehicles to drive as far as possibly to access the moors of the Upper Derwent Valley.  Other rescue team members drove up onto the moors above and to the west of Howden Dam, and by sounding the vehicle sirens, the missing person was able to confirm he could hear them close by.

Edale Team members finally located the man near to Grinah Stones at 3am.  He was given a hot drink and food before being walked back to a team vehicle and driven off the hill, arriving back at the team’s Hope base at 4:45am. West Yorkshire police collected the man to return him home.

Photo credit:  BMRT.  –  Search planners at work in Edale MRT’s base at Hope.