Rescuers were called to aid walkers in two separate incidents on Helvellyn.

Striding Edge

In the first, a 44-year-old man fell from Striding Edge and in the second, mountain rescue teams went to help a 65-year-old man who was suffering heart problems while negotiating Swirral Edge.

Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team was alerted at 12.45pm on Thursday after the West Cumbrian walker fell about 15m towards Red Tarn from the ridge, near its final ascent to the plateau of the 950m (3,117ft) mountain.

The Pride of Cumbria air ambulance airlifted a team of rescuers as close to the scene as possible. A spokesman for Patterdale MRT said: “The weather was deteriorating rapidly and the cloud made flying conditions difficult.  

“After the casualty had been examined and stabilised by the team doctor and paramedics he was lowered on the stretcher to Red Tarn and carried to a point where the air ambulance had been able to land about 2km (1¼ miles) away.”

The man was flown to the Cumberland Infirmary, Carlisle.

Fifteen members of the rescue team were involved in the effort to get the man to safety. The spokesman described the operation as difficult, due to the weather conditions, taking five hours.

The following day, teams from Patterdale and Penrith were called to help a man from Leeds who was having a suspected angina attack on Swirral Edge, the opposite arête to Striding Edge.

Eight members of the two teams took part, and rescuers were again airlifted by the Great North Air Ambulance to the scene in the early afternoon.

Rescuers carried the man by stretcher over rough, boulder-strewn ground to the helicopter which had landed. He was taken for treatment in hospital at Carlisle.