WOODHEAD Mountain Rescue Team was called out to help a badly injured teenager on bleak moors just south of Holmfirth.

Woodhead combined with colleagues from Glossop MRT in an operation to rescue a 19-year-old from Sheffield who had fallen approximately 33ft, breaking his hip and arm.

He had been out in the Crowden Valley near Black Hill just over the border into the Derbyshire Peak District. The Holme Moss transmitter is on the top of Black Hill.

The young man was with two friends doing a pastime called scrambling when the accident happened.

Scrambling involves going across rocky terrain using hands and feet without rope. The youngster fell from a ledge.

The North West Air Ambulance helicopter was first on scene but realised it could not extricate the man from his location without the specialist help of mountain rescue teams.

More than 20 volunteers took part in the operation to gently place the teenager in a specialist vacuum mattress due to the height of his fall.

Woodhead team member Wayne Thackray said: “These are nylon covers filled with polystyrene beads. The casualty is put in and the air is then sucked out so it acts as a full body splint.

“When you are dealing with casualties who have broken a hip, it is important to think about the possibility of internal injuries which is why this mattress is ideal.’’

A Woodhead Mountain Rescue Team doctor helped to stabilise the teenager before he was carried to the waiting helicopter for the short flight to Wythenshawe hospital south of Manchester.

The flight was just a few minutes away.

Woodhead MRT Team Leader Keith Wakeley said: “It was first thought that the young man was in a more remote location with a long carry off, but on arrival it soon became clear that it was a straightforward extrication and carry to the helicopter.”

Hade Edge-based Woodhead Mountain Rescue Team has covered the hills and moors around southern Huddersfield and the Woodhead Pass as well as the North Eastern Peak District and West and South Yorkshire since 1964.