MOUNTAIN rescue volunteers were called out to assist filmmakers on Rosthwaite Fell yesterday, they had been unprepared for overnight conditions while producing a documentary on wild camping.
Keswick Mountain Rescue were called in the early hours of Thursday morning to six cold and wet casualties who were "unprepared for the overnight conditions and whose tent had succumbed to the high winds and heavy rainfall."
A Met Office yellow weather warning was in place for much of the county yesterday as inclement weather caused localised flooding.
Team members made their way to a phone find location on Rosthwaite Fell from Stonethwaite School when they discovered the casualties.
The group of six young men were film students making a documentary on wild camping for an assignment.
Mountain rescue volunteers gave the group warm clothes and hot drinks while they packed up their equipment and prepared to descend the fell.
Keswick Mountain Rescue and the wild campers making their way back down the fell. (Image: Keswick Mountain Rescue)
It was incident 118 of the year, taking 11 team members six hours and 21 minutes.
Callouts to mountain rescue teams in the Lake District have continued to rise this year.
Nick Owen, of the Lake District Search and Mountain Rescue Association, told the News & Star in August that teams are on their way to "another record year."
Between January and December of 2024, Keswick Mountain Rescue had recorded 157 incidents. The team had recorded about 90 incidents by August this year.
By August 19 of this year, Langdale Ambleside passed its previous busiest year.
Keswick Mountain Rescue team members assisting the wild campers. (Image: Keswick Mountain Rescue)
Mountain Rescue England and Wales recorded a callout every day in 2024 for the first time in its history.
A spokesperson for Keswick MRT said: "Our team is 100 per cent funded through donations. Often when we go out on a rescue, people tell us they'd like to buy us a coffee or a pint, which is much appreciated!
"For good reason however, we cannot use your Mountain Rescue donations towards social events such as a trips to the pub. 'Buy me a coffee' allows us to have a small social fund so that the team can get together outside of rescues or training."