Fancying a winter bonus activation, I fancied a crack at the biggest summit in my local area. G/SP-001 Kinder Scout 4 points plus a 3 point winter bonus so a worthwhile 7 point total. I originally had the thought of doing it between Christmas and new year, but my missus catching Covid put paid to that, so a replan was devised for the bank holiday Monday 2/1/23.
The Weather on the morning of the activation day was fantastic, sunny, warm (ish) a lovely day for a SOTA activation! a plan was formulated to solo the trip, going on to Kinder Plateau along the Pennine way from Snake pass summit, and activating the trig point at SK 07698 89370 - TP6378 The Edge. this trig is well within the AZ for the SOTA and would have the added bonus of ticking me off a trig too! kit prepared, and a last check of the mountain weather report.. bright and sunny, clouding over late afternoon and a small chance of snow after dark... that'll do! I planned on being off the hill by 1600 latest, so was satisfied this would be a pleasant activation.
I parked the car on Snake summit, did a SOTA activation alert, and set off. the path is well marked on stone slabs laid by the national parks service to reduce erosion to the local pathways. these stone slabs, would prove to be my literal downfall! the going was good, and although the slabs were damp, the temp was around 6 degrees and there was no sign of any ice I reckoned on about 50 mins to cover the 3 and a bit miles to the trig the path crosses several gullies, and the stones slabs form little bridges across the gullies. Placing my foot on one such slab, I felt my left leg crumble from underneath me and in that split second it dawned on me, id hit the only patch of black ice on the whole path! BALLS by this point im upside down, on my back doing a dying fly impression wedged in the gully by my backpack. this was the point the pitfalls of soloing a walk on the moors become very apparent! I knew there were others in the vicinity so I shouted and whistled for help managed to extract myself from the straps on my rucksack and luckily people appeared to help me. they rolled me from my precarious position back onto the path, it was then the pain in my leg hit me, and I realised I was in ALOT of pain from my Left leg and now in quite serious trouble.
So, here I am, lying on the cold floor I cant move due to a busted leg and people are trying to help me, this led to the 1st problem.. poor mobile signal! I could get a GPS NGR but no one could dial out, not to worry I thought... I have radio! Now, I need to get something off my chest here, I could hear people calling on S20 I called mayday and my callsign.. but yet my calls went IGNORED! SERIOUSLY PEOPLE, WHY WOULD YOU IGNORE A MAYDAY CALL???? really, why? honestly, its been nearly a month since my accident, and this is STILL really eating at me...
So, here I am lying on the ground, slowly getting hypothermic due to shock and the pain in my leg. a small crowd was gathering to help me, people finding warm coverings and blankets, people off to raise help, MADNESS! but boy, was I thankful for them. my memory is a little hazy, so if you were one of the heroes who helped, thankyou! the ones I can remember were the older couple, who stuck their dog in a bivi bag with me to keep me warm, the polish couple who supplied hot tea, and all the runners who went to get mobile signal to get help! Special thanks also goes out to my friends Andy (M7BOA) and James, after I somehow managed to get a help whatsapp to them, with my NGR on screengrab and they came to meet me and sort my car and stuff...
All photos, unless otherwise stated on this post © James Smith 2023
After 50 or so mins, the angels in red coats arrived, in the form of Glossop Mountain Rescue Team who quickly administered pain medication, and packaged me in their fleece lined casualty bag while a plan was formulated with the team medic to get me off.. Meanwhile, in the background a storm was brewing.. one of the evening snow showers arriving early! so, the team survival tent was deployed...
They soon had my leg splinted, and I was loaded onto the team stretcher, fastened on and packaged up for the carry off. now this is quite cool, the stretcher is called (I think) a Bell stretcher, it was specially developed for use by MRTs and has a single wheel underneath, to roll it in a guided way, and take the strain off the team on a long carry off! great piece of kit, weird to ride on! haha
Luckily for the team, I was only about half a mile from the road, so the carry off wasn't too arduous, and they quickly got me into the back of a warm land rover, to await the arrival of NWAS to take me to hospital. Now, this is where things got a bit interesting! according to the MRT, NWAS had telephoned their duty controller and informed them an ambulance wouldn't be attending??!! so we worked out a plan to get me, in my own vehicle and James was going to drive me to the hospital... as preparations were being made.... an Ambulance turned up!
Anyway, eventually safely loaded into the Ambulance I was finally on my way to A&E, but that is a whole other story! one I may share one day, lets just say I wasn't too impressed with the care I received...
Final result is a Spiral Fracture Distal third Left Fibula, and after some messing around and an operation, its been pinned and plated, and im now non weight bearing on my left leg (so virtually immobile) till the end of February and then a decision will be made on whether or not I can start physio and gentle weight bearing... the screws and pins holding it all together are pencilled in for removal in 3 months time (so another operation) and there will be recovery time after that, so looks like the end of summer till im strong enough to get out on the tops again, and im utterly miserable about it!!
I will be back, doing something at some point when im back driving, maybe POTA or WWFF activations, in the meantime I wish to express my extreme gratitude to Glossop Mountain Rescue Team, without whom I would have been in real trouble and i would ask if anyone reading this could chuck them a few quid, whatever you can afford it would be really appreciated! I aim to do something to raise a few quid for them maybe later in the year, see how my fitness goes.. so watch this space!!
donation link for GMRT click here
Its been pretty difficult to write this, and I have wrestled with myself for most of the month whether I should, or shouldn't do it! but reading it back to myself now, and reliving the experience I find quite therapeutic! Anyhow, sorry its a long one, I WILL BE BACK! thanks for reading folks
Alan - 2E0JWA
