The teen's family had gone down Gaping Gill on the winch
Rescuers were called out to the slopes of a Yorkshire Dales fell after a teenager began suffering from hypothermia.
The 16-year-old boy was waiting on the surface while family members returned from a trip underground by winch into the Gaping Gill pothole.
A Cave Rescue Organisation doctor checked the teen who was suffering mild hypothermia at the site, 400m (1,312ft) up on the eastern slopes of Ingleborough, shortly after 8pm on Saturday.
He was helped to one of the team’s vehicles, and then taken to Clapham where ambulance crews carried out further examinations.
Members of the public can descend into the main chamber of Gaping Gill by winch twice a year.
Craven Pothole Club operates the week-long winch meet in the run-up to the August bank holiday, and Bradford Pothole Club runs a similar service to take non-cavers down the 100m (330ft) shaft during the late May holiday.
Mike
25 August 2014Surely rescuers wren't "called out" as they were already there in some numbers! Is this a case of slipshod journalism? I have to put up with that from the tabloids and other sectors of the media but I would have hoped that a niche forum like Grough could have relied on better, more accurate standards, especially as most readers of this piece will be sufficiently savvy to come to the same puzzled conclusions as me.
Steve
25 August 2014Also having been down Gaping Gill a few times I would recommend warm clothing including gloves and a hat as well as waterproof, especially for kids, It can be very cold down there and kids seem to suffer more. The wait to surface can be quite long too.
Jon
25 August 2014I think Mike's comment is completely wrong. I understand CRO was called out by North Yorkshire Police from its Clapham's base and the Grough report exactly correlates to the incident as listed on the Cave Rescue Organisation's website.
Dowl
27 August 2014How could you leave the poor sod, alone, with inadequate clothing, for a few hours while you jolly it up down Gaping Gill? Surely one of them would have had the decency to stay with them? Or lend them a warm top...?!
Jo
27 August 2014For your information the teenager mentioned is my nephew. He is 'sixteen' so not a child. He had adequate warm clothing & rain protection in his bag, including a small gas stove. Being a teenager he stubbornly didn't put any of it on as it started to get cooler. There were other youngsters who would have been very disappointed had they not gone down. Do not pass judgement on something you do not know all of the information about!
JC
28 August 2014The poor sod chose to be alone & not to go down at the last minute, he also had adequate clothing to put on with him but chose not to wear it!! No one was jollying it up just going down Gapping Gill as was intended.
Some people are so quick to pass judgement without knowing any details!!
Jo
28 August 2014The 16 year old teenager happens to be my Nephew.
He was left with adequate warm clothing, rain protection & even had a small gas stove in his bag. He chose not to do the sensible thing & put them on as it cooled down, it was a simple case of him being foolish & not putting on the extra clothing he had with him. He was not abandoned while the rest of the family group jollied it up as implied, he was happy to wait. Please don't pass judgement when you don't know the full facts.
Thanks to all the team who helped him.