Mountain rescue team hurt sledging in Pennines

A member of Bolton's mountain rescue outfit had to be evacuated by air ambulance after a sledging accident on Sunday.

The 17-strong Bolton Mountain Rescue Team was taking advantage of a quiet Boxing Day to spend the afternoon tobogganing on Rivington Pike, a steep hill on the West Pennine Moors, using an old stretcher as a sledge.

The 21-year-old man had to be airlifted to hospital after crashing down a vertical drop on the steep slopes near Bolton. He was released later in the day with severe bruising.

Mountain rescue team leader Garry Rhodes said: "It was just an accident – we had been so busy with all the jobs that we thought we would have a day sledging. Sledging is dangerous, but it is also good fun."

A man was killed yesterday in Cumbria after falling 25 metres at a popular ice-climbing spot. More than 30 mountain rescuers were called to the incident at the frozen Cautley Spout waterfall in the Eastern Howgills, south of Kirkby Stephen.