Challenges come in all shapes and sizes – from volunteering with Mountain Rescue to carving out a new career in your sixties. We celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8 with some Yorkshire women making their mark
Kirsty Hall
Yorkshire Dales fell rescuer
Being on call 24/7: 365 in all weathers is only part of the story for Yorkshire Dales fell rescuer Kirsty Hall. There’s an often overlooked fourth emergency service that anyone who enjoys spending time in the countryside may come to rely on one day. Mountain Rescue England and Wales, which has clocked up more than 70 years of service, tallied just four days last year when their members weren’t recovering climbers from crags, reuniting lost walkers with friends and family or getting the injured to hospital.
Almost implausibly, this vital, lifesaving search and rescue organisation is not only a charity, but its hundreds of skilled rescuers on call 365 days a year are all volunteers.
‘I love the outdoors, always have,’ explains former British Open Fell Running champion Kirsty Hall from Grassington. ‘But it was my own skiing accident about 10 years ago that brought home to me just how important such help is and was what inspired me to join. As I lay in the snow with my trashed, mangled knee, I can’t describe the sense of relief I had when I saw the mountain rescuers coming down the slope towards me. I’ll never forget it.’
Starting from humble beginnings of makeshift stretchers and swiftly gathered local search and rescue parties, Mountain Rescue has evolved into a world-class, professional service relying on intrepid, dedicated people like Kirsty who love the outdoors and want to make a difference.
‘My team is based in Grassington and serves the southern part of the Yorkshire Dales from Ripon in the north to the accident hot spots of Brimham Rocks and Ilkley in the south. We get called out to around 60 incidents per year, which sounds like one a week, but it’s completely unpredictable, although we are unfortunately seeing an increase in high-risk missing person searches for people with poor mental health or reduced mental capacity.’
Becoming a fell rescuer is perhaps more straightfor ward than many people might imagine and the service is keen for more women to get involved. Being fit with an affinity for the outdoors and map and compass navigation skills is all that is deemed essential. Everything else, from rigging skills for technical rope rescues to advanced first aid can be taught.
‘Out of the 60 individuals that make up Upper Wharfedale Fell Rescue Association (UWFRA) there are just eight women,’ says Kirsty. ‘There’s a per
