Rescuers help climbers after they fell ill from eating magic mushrooms

Rescuers have to help group of climbers who got ‘too high’ up a mountain – after they fell ill from eating magic mushrooms

• There was a call-out to Keswick Mountain Rescue Team on Easter Saturday
• Rescuers walked the revellers down to safety during a two-hour operation 

Rescuers had to help a group of climbers who found themselves ‘too high’ up a mountain – after they fell ill from eating magic mushrooms.

The unusual call-out to Keswick Mountain Rescue Team on Easter Saturday came after concerned hikers noticed some of the party had fallen ill from taking the psychedelic fungi.

They dispatched an 11-strong team to the valley path from Styhead Tarn towards Seathwaite in Borrowdale and found two of the group were ‘feeling unwell’.

Rescuers walked the unsteady revellers down to safety during a two-hour operation. They then offered advice as the group’s driver was one of those feeling queasy from the effects of the LSD-style illegal drug.

The unusual call-out to Keswick Mountain Rescue Team (pictured) on Easter Saturday came after concerned hikers noticed some of the party had fallen ill from taking the psychedelic fungi

‘A number of calls were received via passers-by, who had come across a group of young adult males who had taken magic mushrooms,’ a spokesman said.

‘Two in the group were feeling unwell including the driver in the party. The casualties were walked down and given advice by the team medic regarding the timing of their onward travel.’

Responding to the incident on the team’s Facebook page, members of the public praised their professionalism.

Clare Hutley wrote: ‘Defies words. Well done team. Always available no matter the circumstances.’

Kathleen Walsh posted: ‘Wow! Magic mushrooms!! Is that a first for KMRT??!! Well done team for all your work today and every day.’ And Janet Penfold typed: ‘Sorry you get called out to idiots but I suppose it’s the Easter holidays and the numpties have taken over.’

It is not the first time mountain rescue teams in the Lake District have had to contend with climbers adding to the potential perils by taking illegal drugs.

A mountain rescue call-out on the evening of April 8 

In 2017 police said ‘words fail us’ after four men had to be rescued from Scafell Pike after ‘becoming incapable of walking due to cannabis use’.

Officers worked with Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team and were able to bring the men down to safety.

Afterwards Superintendent Justin Bibby from Cumbria Police said: ‘Taking alcohol or any other substance that could impair your judgment significantly increases your risk of getting into trouble. It has no place on a mountain.’

As crowds flocked to the Lake District to enjoy the sunny start to the Easter weekend, Keswick Mountain Rescue Team were also called to assist four walkers later on Saturday, one with an ankle injury and another who’d had a panic attack.

Psilocybin – the active psychotropic in magic mushrooms – is currently a Class A substance, meaning that possession carries a maximum prison sentence of seven years and an unlimited fine.

In 2021 then Prime Minister Boris Johnson vowed to examine relaxing the law after Tory MP Crispin Blunt urged him to allow more research into the drug’s reported therapeutic qualities.

Mr Blunt said at the time said it had ‘exciting potential’ for the treatment of mental health conditions such as depression, trauma and addiction.

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