Hi John,
Sorry to hear about your accident. I hope it heals quickly so you can get out again. All the best.
Geoff
GM4WHA
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John
I first walked over Kinder Scout some decades ago as a young student. Though it was early Summer, unsurprisingly, it poured with rain all day.
The main learning point from this outing related to the water-resistant properties of the then fashionable ‘donkey jacket.’ After 5 minutes of heavy rain, you find out what carrying something akin to a large wet sheep round your neck for 3+ hours really feels like.
I was fortunate. A change of clothes, a couple of pints, and once more I was fighting fit 
Clearly you have come through a notably more-challenging set of circumstances. As you take time to reflect, perhaps there are:
1 One or two things you might do differently on your next SOTA trip?
2 Some advice you would offer to younger, less-experienced, Activators?
3 For ageing Activators, some suggestions as to how they might better prepare their old bones for SOTA endeavours?
I wish you a full and speedy recovery, together with the joys of many more SOTA summits.
73 Dave
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MMmm? What a story. And a surprise too. I was with Nick and later Phil activating Garrowby Hill G/TW-004, at the weekend. You did get a mention but I never cottoned on it was such a big incident.
Perhaps you could do a presentation at the next SARS meet.?? 
We won’t be seeing you for a while I guess.
I hope you stay more positive than when I did my psoas muscle/s in last year whilst walling. I wasn’t as badly incapacitated as you perhaps but maybe I’m a wimp…
Best Wishes.
ps. Excellent write up as usual along with some excellent photos as usual.
pps. I’m glad Finn was OK. 
Dave
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So many responders so here’s a reply to ALL:
Adrian; Simon & Nic; Geoff; Gerald & Gerald; Fraser; Paul; Tom; John; Matthew; Jimmy; Andy; Kevin; Alan; Andy; Colin; Viki; Andrew; Hans; Geoff; Dave, Dave and all of you who have contacted me via email, text or phone.
Many thanks for your sympathy, comments, reflections, experiences, advice and your reassurances about no shame in calling for help when it’s needed. You tell some good stories too and there are plenty of relevant suggestions but there are some serious accounts too. However, it all helps when you’re in uncharted waters. Nothing like this has ever happened to me. It was completely unexpected and since there was no long term warning, it would seem unavoidable too.
I always assumed that limitations would come from medical problems, such as the harrowing story told by Andrew, or the ebbing away of confidence but not ‘structural failure.’ With my eye off the SOTA ball lately, Alan’s broken leg completely passed me by I’m afraid, so I’m glad you got yourself right and are back with it Alan. I hope I can emulate you and get back at some level eventually . I was the second SP1 rescue! I hope there won’t be any more for a while on SP1 in particular, otherwise us ‘antenna carriers’ might get a bad name with the MRT. ‘Well done Glossop,’ it was said. Well done indeed! Twice!
Your positive comments about the MRT had me nodding my head. Several of you actually doing significant stints yourselves makes me wish I could have my time over again and also live near some mountains. What selfless, dedicated people the MR teams are. Without them, I and many others, would have been in a right old pickle. It took me back to a book I read years ago. Much of what we rely on today stemmed from the plane crash in Beinn Eighe in 1951 when the RAF formed their own MR. That must have morphed into what we have today.
Ah yes the stretcher. It doesn’t surprise me I’ve been told who invented it… The Mac Innes box tent came straight to mind when I read that famous name. A specially designed tent that was first used on Everest in 1975 if my memory serves me well and according to Chris Bonnington’s book. Who else would have thought of only one wheel? It seems crazy when you think ‘inside the box’ but far from it, more would be counter productive on rough ground and heavier too. Even better, it is designed easily detachable when the need arises. Genius!
The ageing process. Yes what a rubbish thing that is. Sandy Denny – Who Knows Where the Time Goes’ comes to mind. You don’t give it proper thought until it starts to catch up on you. Then you realise even your offspring are well into their 40’s. I’ve found myself unexpectedly horizontal for one reason or another countless times in 23 years of activating and before that too of course. Black ice? Yes but that was just stepping out of someone’s door onto their drive and I once went backwards through a drystone wall in Oxenhope in my Moggy 1000 too, due to the same weather condition.
In the places that have become our ‘playground’ anyone can fall over. However as we age the sense of balance is subtly reduced as is the flexibility and reactions needed to counter that problem in the available milliseconds. The insistence of our species of walking upright can’t help a lot either.
Several of you have reported injuries either on SOTA, at home or elsewhere. It’s far too easily done. I will be avoiding skipping ropes too! Yes Tom. Which claims the most victims? Wrekin in winter or a wet bathroom floor? The home is a dangerous place for sure so it’s a toss-up. I too injured myself at home requiring time off activating. After falling up my own stairs, my shin started to get infected and then I wrecked my back just overreaching for a Brussels sprout in my veg garden. I couldn’t even get to the chip shop for weeks and yet 20 years of 40-50-even 60 pound rucksacks for summit camps and nothing! It doesn’t make sense.
All I can say is I didn’t trip, fall or anything on Kinder Scout so it’s not easy to identify what I might have done differently. Bless its little cotton grass, the mountain is completely innocent. I just took my next step. A step too far and it went. It must have become weak for some reason. Maybe the cumulative effect of lots of local walking every day. I’ll never know but I’ll ask when I go to my appointment on 14th May and also acquaint them of the demands that this hobby has entailed in the past with hopes for the future. However I shall need to be prepared to compromise on the latter no doubt.
Thanks for the advice on what the treatment should be, based on experiences of people you know who have suffered this problem. I can see it’s not that uncommon and accounts include the cringe-worthy ‘pistol shot’ that I experienced. The main thrust that I need to take on board is, ‘John – do what they tell you,’ particularly with physio. Several of you wrote that so I’ll try to heed the advice.
What would I do differently on the next SOTA trip? Thanks for the suggestions to ease me back in. One-pointers etc. TW4 came to mind straight after this happened. There I should be able to, ‘Make the final approach to the summit on foot’ even in the state I am right now with crutches but if I can return, I’ll certainly review which summits have well graded or short approaches and which ones have phone coverage etc. I hope we’ll still be on for Arnhem in September and PA6. At least that’s a flat walk. Yes, I hope to stay positive but I’ve never been a person known for optimism. At best a realist. Wimp? Yes. As ever - terrified of all things medical.
Well, once again, many thanks. Like 111, 999, GMRT, family, friends and the hospitals, your sympathetic comments are helping me along in a positive direction but it’s easier now it doesn’t hurt. Not yet at least… Meanwhile I may, in a small way, investigate this chasing business for a while. I’ve worked out that Pendle Hill is just about line of sight from Irton and there’s still what’s left of that rusty Slim-Jim on my chimney stack.
‘The best of human behaviour.’ Yes, that’s the MRT alright and the others who offered their help.
THANKS to EVERYBODY.
Stay safe on the hills (and at home too!)
73, John
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John,
Sorry to hear about your injury, and wish you a speedy recovery.
73’s
David
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Thanks David,
Yes the East coast has one fewer SOTA ops for now but there are still plenty left to fill the gap including yourself of course. The ones remaining will just have to do a bit more to make up for idle John.
73, John
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So sorry to hear you have had a tendon ruptured John. I wish you a speedy recovery. I can empathize having ruptured my Right Quad Tendon on High Raise over 4 years ago. That finally gave up during the first 20m of descent (I had completed the activation). I managed a self evacuation using a walking pole taking over 4hrs.
After the op. to repair it I asked the surgeon, “Why it would fail”. He shrugged his shoulders and said “Wear and tear”.
I think he ment “You old bugger, you’ve worn it out”
Invest in lots of physio John. Good recovery.
David G0EVV
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Here you go John, have a read my friend
That was at the very beginning of 2023… a did Scafell Pike a few days ago, so a good recovery is possible taking your time, and following the physio’s advice, I was lucky, we have a fairly good local NHS physio provision, but i did have to self refferr and it may be the same in your area too.
If you fancy a couple of SP area low and easy ones, gimme a shout! Im usually around weekend and some weekdays, and i would only be too happy to accompany you
Alan
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To G0EVV
Hi David:
Thanks for your good wishes. I’m hoping but still a bit in the dark. It’s early days and I don’t have any personal experience to rely on. I’m due a consultation on the 14th May so I might know more after that.
You had a nasty experience. One of the Lakes walking group had to be airlifted off the southern approach to High Raise in 2022. That was a medical emergency but the three of us; you, Alan and I, suffered what you might call mechanical failures so it seems I’ve been living in a bubble all these years because I never thought of tendon failure. All this is showing me the downsides of hill walking to go with all the up sides. I’ve always thought that if you take great care you’ll be OK but this happened when I was taking care. Just walking normally albeit stepping up somewhat.
As a non-medic but an engineer, I came to one of the only two conclusions that I could to come to. Like your doc, the first choice decided on the day was wear and tear a bit like metal fatigue in aircraft and the second is that I’ve been carrying a weakness that I wasn’t aware of. Either way it’s come as a big shock, not least because over the years, like many SOTA ops, I’ve been to some very remote places. I too have the same question at the top of the list I’ll be taking with me to the clinic – ‘Why did it fail?’ I’ll tell you if I get the same answer!
You did a great job getting off unaided. It’s what I planned to do but I was scared of doing more damage. You really bit the bullet. If you’d come up from the Dungeon Gill side we had no phone coverage at all there in 2022. I had to go down to the pub to phone then go back up again. You took a risk entering a comms black-hole but usually there are people going up and down, some to sit by the tarn.
High Raise is a long way from anywhere. If I hadn’t been going up with either the walking group or with my walking mate at the time William, I wouldn’t have done it 7 times. I would have done it once! Well done; you took on a lot with the distance. You must have strength of mind or I suppose just a case of needs must but I recognize your self reliance.
Your advice about the physio is echoed by almost everybody so it must be important and I will try and find out more.
Thanks again David,
73 and take care of that quad!
John
……
2E0JWA Alan,
Thanks for the encouragement.
My goodness Alan. That was a harrowing read. I can only imagine the pain you were in after that happened. I cringed a few times but certainly when you mentioned spiral. It sounds like a torsion injury like when you twist a dry stick and it splits apart along the grain. No wonder it hurt and no wonder you had to have it rebuilt!
You found the black ice alright but I have always had mixed feelings about blocks. More care is required than on a natural path, even an eroded one I find, but on the other hand they’re a Godsend in fog; you can’t loose your way. Before they put them on The Cheviot you could have almost sunk out of sight and never been seen again. In places, the same goes for that part of Derbyshire.
Good job for the GMRT that you hadn’t got so far but I can readily see in the photos that they had quite a challenge with the stretcher taking up all the path and the team left with the ups and downs beside it. It would have taken a lot of care on their part but of course they take it all in a days work. Of that there’s no doubt. They’re supremely confident, tough, well trained and absolutely marvellous, to say it’s all voluntary and they don’t get paid. I posted a thank you letter to them today with something for the cause.
No phone! Seems you were in a similar situation to how I may have ended up. If I had got further down that deep valley and then tried to summon help, I’d have been out of range. In your case the radio had the potential to help even though it failed to in this scenario. I don’t doubt that the radio and its rubber duck would have been pretty well at ground level too. You could hardly stand on tiptoe, hold it above your head and shout up into it as we normally do to obtain max range. I’m sure the stations would have replied had they’d heard you. If not I could lose my faith in human nature. No, they could have been using big power to your 5W and very few (non-SOTA) people disable squelch for a routine call on S20. Also there’s a lot of noise around in built-up areas these days even on FM.
One thing is certain. Without help it would have been impossible for you. In my case a tendon is designed to work in tension. Even if it’s snapped if you keep it in compression or neutral it’s maybe doable but a bone in that state could take neither tension, compression nor bending.
I see the route you were taking. It’s a longer walk than Fair brook but the start point is 200m higher. Swings and roundabouts. I’ve walked that route but only once and only to photograph the Mill Hill Liberator in about 1980. I remember it was flattish but hard going underfoot. I can’t remember a path, just ankle bending tussock grass. There were no slabs then. We’d done the B29 etc in the morning, then a hot afternoon, I ran out low on water.
You were lucky that it was a Bank Holiday, NYD falling on the Sunday. Plenty of people enjoying the winter sunshine and good viz etc. I love the bit about the dog warming you up. Wonder what it made of that HI. No wonder we love dogs.
We both liked the stretcher. It was a marvel. The best stretcher I’ve ever seen but there again I ain’t seen many and I hope no more. I imagined one of those khaki-camo things that the army used in WW2 but we didn’t get the Willis jeep version, we got a Rolls Royce! I must say I had to get a photo of it when it arrived.
I can see why your account was hard to write at first. An event like that is a confidence shaker and you can feel very down but like you, I found that writing it down did actually help.
Great that you did LD1 recently. Very well done; I’m really envious. I’ve done it 11 times but not since 2016 sadly as it’s quite a hard one but a good one. I remember activating it with Gt.Gable and Scafell in 2002, then I found out Scafell had been taken off the list. Gutted! My 28 points down to 18 but happier days. Talking of confidence, that must have boosted yours no end!
Take care and stay safe. Let’s both try not to pester the GMRT again, or any other.for that matter. Fingers crossed!
73, John
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Absolutley… while im not planning on using them again, ill plan better in future however neither would I hesitate to ask for help if i needed too, gotta admit LD1 was one of the hardest things ive done in a LONG time, muscle strain and a touch of heatstroke did me no favours, and if it hit before it did, I would have been asking for help again… still! We live and learn to fight another day. hope that tendon of yours heals as planned, I have found a pair of treeking poles a MASSIVE help since my injury, i use them all the time now!
All the best buddy!
Alan
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Somewhat late to reading this, but I hope you are doing better, John. As a local I can vouch for GMRT being a top team - they are always very busy, along with our neighbouring MRTs.
I know Nigel and I’m glad to hear the team were able to support you so well. Thank you for sharing their contact details.
I hope you’re fully mended soon!
Helen
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Alan 2E0JWA 16-05-25
Hi Alan,
Just saw your post. Yes, Scafell Pike is a long, hard walk from anywhere apart from Wasdale but I found even that took roughly the same time as it did from Seathwaite so nothing gained apart from a massive drive around to the back door of the Lake District.
I have for ever detested the things but now it’s looking like I may be forced to follow suit with some walking sticks. I imagine they can be a nuisance on scrambles not to mention adding to the all-up weight. I’m a weight-a-holic – keeping it down that is. Regrettably, I don’t think I’ll be doing scrambles ever again so why not at least carry one or even two. They could be very useful in directing some of the forces through the arms instead of the legs and they would be great for descents too, as I know very well when I’ve employed a mast section for that purpose several times. One thing is certain, I’m going to have to revise my ideas and my whole approach to SOTA activating very significantly! Gone are the days of massive packs and probably overnight stays.
I was at the hospital Wednesday to see the consultant. He seemed happy with me so far and cleared me for ‘round the supermarket on crutches.’
It was explained that tendons can weaken with age and it’s possible I could have weakened it further with 40 miles a week for the month or two beforehand. ‘Take it easier in the future and have rest days between effort days but don’t stop walking because it has great health benefits.’ ‘You’ll be fitter than most people of your age that come in here.’ No idea if he’s right about that or not, as I don’t know the condition of my ‘giblets.’
I asked the likelihood of success and the reply was, ‘High.’ I hope so! Unless something goes wrong I won’t need further scans. I asked about the mechanism of healing, ‘New cells grow across the injury.’ Time scale is 3 months but another 3 months after that to get (part way) back to what will be a new normal. Physio was mentioned and I start taking wedges out of the boot next week so the tendon grows back to the right length. A long job for sure. My thought even without setbacks: 12 months could be more like it.
I wish you well Alan. Keep up with the long term recovery and thanks for your good wishes.
73, John
……
Helen M0TMD (2E0VMD) 16-05-25:
Hello Helen,
Thank you for your reply. There are many things on the reflector that completely pass me by. I don’t look very often these days. (In 2002 it was maybe 10 times a day!) Yes, I remember Helen from Glossop and have just confirmed some QSO’s with you in my excel log. I found your former callsign in there too so congrats on getting your M0.
Thank you very much for your good wishes. Yes, not too bad thanks but as for what’s going on inside my heel, I can’t tell. It doesn’t give much in the way of feedback but neither does it give me any pain which must be a good thing!
However the hospital are satisfied with me as of Wednesday (see above paragraphs).
Excellent - you know some of the team? What a grand set of people they are and were on the day of my demise. No amount of praise is enough. It was Nigel who phoned me to make the initial contact and he sent the team out very quickly. Goodness knows how they managed to assemble in such a short time then arrive in well under 90 min! All I can say it they must walk a heck of a lot faster than average. They’d likely be the fittest people on the hill that day.
Yes, I put their contact details on there in the hope that one or two might slip them a few quid. I got a lovely email reply to my letter. It came from Darren. ‘We are currently planning to buy new radios for our two vehicles.’ Nobody on here will disapprove of that for sure!
I wondered whether they get sufficient range from their handhelds to the vehicles or base. Thought they might benefit from having a lightweight J-Pole to deploy at sites that are screened, if in fact they’ve ever had any bother with comms. If I’m remembering right, I think they mentioned 152 MHz so it would be a bit smaller than an amateur 2m-FM one and easy to carry.
Please pass my best wishes on the Nigel when you see him in the town and any other team members too. We were only together for a short time but they just feel like friends.
Thanks again,
73, John
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A pair of walking poles is not dead weight - I don’t why some people are so anti them. They actually make it easier to carry more weight - I wouldn’t want to be without mine. I can stride up hills and they protect my knees on descent. Then on the summit one holds up my tarp and I know many use them for the ends of their antennas. I have a similar feeling about my large rucksack. Although heavier than my 30L pack it is much more comfortable if I am carrying any weight (i.e. any SOTA activation) because it has a hip belt which means the weight isn’t carried by the shoulders. I have now got a 35L rucksack with a hip belt and that is great compromise.
On Great Whernside G/NP-008 last month I had a long chat with the guy who looks after radio comms for Upper Wharfedale Fell Rescue. He said they have 3 or 4 different systems including the Emergency Services Network (not sure if that is the old or the new or both). They were always struggling with coverage even with multiple systems.
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John,
I agree with others that walking poles are very good, they spread the load of your body and pack between your legs and upper body (and arms). And they are not heavy. They are usually hollow aluminium or fibreglass and are lighter than your fibreglass antenna pole. I often use my antenna pole for one hand and a walking pole for the other. It helps greatly and I really found they helped when I was doing the camino walk in Spain. As others have said, it is like being in 4WD instead of 2WD.
Adopt the technique of moving the poles in the same way as you swing your arms, ie. opposite to your legs. When you move your right leg forward, you normally move your left arm forward, so you also bring the left pole forward and plonk it on the ground in time with your right foot. Then with both of those on the ground, you are stabilised and you can move your body weight forward with two anchor points instead of one. Like a soldier marching, you’d never move your right arm with your right leg.
So I encourage you to try them. They would help you.
73 Andrew vk1da
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I may if i ever do it again, do it the Seathwaite route, If im honest, i wasnt overly struck on it as a summit, there are much nicer ones around the lakes! I am, therefore in no rush to do it again!
I used to be of the same opinion around trekking poles, howevr the more I use them, the more useful i find them! even on scrambly bits, they can be helpful if you reduce them right down, they can be usful to help get a purchase on the rougher bits, like an axe can. plenty of vids on youtube explaining proper use and how to set them up correctly ETC ETC. I honestly wouldnt be without mine now.
Thats BRILLIANT news!!
I am buddy, no danger! and you are VERY welcome
Alan
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