Kit that gets people rescued: how our team equips itself
15 June 2026
People are often surprised by how much equipment a "simple" rescue involves. Here is what actually goes up the hill — and what it costs to keep it ready.
The stretcher
Our stretchers split into two halves so they can be carried in rucksack-style harnesses over rough ground, then assembled at the casualty site. They are built to be dragged over boulder fields, lowered on ropes, and carried for hours by teams of eight rotating in pairs. A modern mountain rescue stretcher costs around £3,000 — and we keep them cached in stretcher boxes at key points on the fells, like the one in the photo above, so the first team members on scene are not carrying everything from the valley.
The casualty bag
An injured person lying still on a Lakeland fellside loses heat frighteningly fast, even in August. The casualty bag is a full-body insulated cocoon — windproof, waterproof, with handling loops for the stretcher lift. Combined with an insulating mat it is the single most important piece of medical kit we own. Around £800, and it wears out, because it gets dragged over rock in the dark.
Medical kit
Each callout sack carries splints, dressings, airway kit, oxygen and controlled-drug pain relief managed under our medical officer. Our casualty care training runs to a nationally certified syllabus, revalidated every three years. Training one team member to that standard costs more than the kit they carry.
Radios, ropes and the unglamorous rest
Digital hill radios at £600 apiece. Two hundred metres of rescue-rated rope, replaced on a strict cycle regardless of how new it looks. Head torches, group shelters, spare gloves in every size, and the Land Rover that gets it all to the road head, which drinks money in a way only old Land Rovers can.
Who pays
None of this comes from government. Every item above was bought by donations — the tins in village shops, a sponsored swim, a legacy from a walker who loved these hills. When we say your money goes straight onto the hill, this is exactly what we mean.