A GROUP of hikers were assisted by Cockermouth Mountain Rescue team after one of the men plunged 50 feet.

Cockermouth Mountain Rescue Team were called-out at around 4pm on Sunday to assist three men descending Pillar, a mountain neighbouring Scafell Pike.

The group had become disorientated whilst attempting to descend from the mountain, finding themselves in West Waterfall Gully with nightfall setting in, surrounded by swampy terrain.

One of the group had sustained a serious head injury after plummeting 50 feet, another of the group had fallen the same distance whilst trying to help his friend.

The emergency call stated Buttermere however as the initial vehicles were dispatched it was established that the group were somewhere below Pillar Rock over Ennerdale.

Having confirmed their location, team leader Andrew McNeil requested support and a HM Coastguard Helicopter as well as a Rescue 936 from Caernarfon were dispatched.

The first vehicle arrived at the base of the mountain at 4.40pm and a team of three ascended via Pillar Ride.

As the group were climbing they heard shouts for help in the forest below so the second vehicle was dispatched to the wooded area. The team found a man with head injuries who had set off walking for help. He was treated at the scene by team members and taken to hospital.

The first team found the other two men, including their second casualty, stuck high on either side of the West Waterfall, adjacent to Pillar Rock.

The team accessed the fallen casualty, who had sustained back, rib and hand injuries in his fall, via Green Ledge.

He was secured and treated at the scene while the Coastguard attempted to move in. There was not enough space for the helicopter to manoeuvre so R936 retreated to refuel in Blackpool, intending to return once the casualty had been moved to a more accessible location.

A twin rope system was set up and the casualty was lowered on a stretcher down the technically challenging West Waterfall gully to the combe below by which time Rescue 936 had returned and he was winched aboard. His uninjured friend was located above the gully. He was secured and raised back to safe ground then walked off the mountain to the team vehicles waiting in the valley bottom.

Andrew McNeil said: "This was a complicated rescue with a lot going on. Three casualties, two of which had significant injuries following lengthy falls, and a third cragfast in a precarious location, all in a very remote, steep and loose mountain environment, at night, in fog.

"We had 22 team members on the hill and every one was needed to deal with what, in effect, was three separate and very different rescues.

He said: "Casualty care and a long technical stretcher lower down West Waterfall Gully, a crag pick off and a raise to safety of the uninjured cragfast casualty, and a search with casualty care given to the third ‘walking wounded’ who had somehow managed to get himself off the mountain, through the forest almost to the forestry track, with a very significant head injury sustained during his fall.

Mr McNeil said: "HM Coastguard Helicopter, Rescue 936 from Caernarfon stayed on scene with dogged determination to assist, despite thick fog rolling in and out, eventually managing to return after refuelling in Blackpool and winch the stretchered casualty onboard during a brief clear weather window."