MOUNTAIN rescue team members say people should be aware of the increased dangers on the fells in winter conditions following three call outs during one afternoon.

On Saturday, members of Langdale and Ambleside Mountain Rescue Team were called to Grisedale Tarn, Helvellyn, where a man from Carlisle had fallen and had a suspected broken leg.

He was taken to the Cumberland Infirmary, at Carlisle, by RAF helicopter.

On the same afternoon, members of the Patterdale team were called to Red Tarn, Helvellyn, where a 30-year-old man from Hertfordshire had a suspected broken ankle.

The team and RAF mountain rescue colleagues splinted the injury, and the man was airlifted to the Cumberland Infirmary by RAF helicopter.

Again on Saturday afternoon, members of the Patterdale team were called to help a 45-year-old man from Kinross, who slipped 200 feet from Nethermost Pike while assisting two walkers who appeared to be in difficulties.

He suffered facial injuries but was able to walk off the fell and was treated at the Cumberland Infirmary.

l Members of Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team were called to help a 62-year-old woman who had fallen and fractured her ankle while walking last Sunday.

The woman from Kendal was treated on the fell at St Sunday Crag, in Patterdale, before being carried by stretcher to the team's rescue centre and then taken by ambulance to Cumberland Infirmary.

Cumbria police say they had been unable to contact the woman's family, and could not release her name.