Safe and well, the walker found by a UFO! (From Craven Herald)

Safe and well, the walker found by a UFO!

10:20am Friday 23rd January 2009

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A seasoned walker stared death in the face after getting lost in blizzards in the Dales.

Dozens of volunteers from the Upper Wharfedale Fell Rescue Association (UWFRA) braved the snow to search for Alan Hudson after he lost his way and spent almost 11 hours in the hills above Kettlewell on Monday.

Now Mr Hudson, 53, of Tyersal, Bradford, wants to thank them for saving his life.

He lost the path on the eight-mile walk and ended up trekking nearly 30 miles. When the alarm was raised, 49 members of the UWFRA team set out to search for him in appalling weather.

When a Sea King helicopter arrived to pick him up, Mr Hudson thought it was a UFO.

He had gone with two friends to Kettlewell on Monday. His wife, Janice, stayed at home not knowing that within hours a major search and rescue operation would be deployed to find her husband.

While Mr Hudson’s friends went to the Racehorses pub, he set off for his walk around Great Whernside Hill – not to be confused with the Whernside near Ribblehead – and back into the village.

There was no snow in Kettlewell when he set off, but then conditions deteriorated. Mr Hudson said: “I’ve been up there dozens of times in all weathers. Sometimes visibility has been really bad, but I’ve always been able to see the path and know exactly where I was.

“This time the path got covered with snow and somehow I got off it.

“I tried to trace my footprints back up Great Whernside, but they were covered. It was then I realised I was lost and phoned the police.”

It was about the same time that his friends were getting concerned.

“Fell Rescue got in touch and told me to keep as warm as I could, so I kept walking,” said Mr Hudson.

He crawled his way through four-foot drifts, fell into bogs and lost his water bottle. Soon after he lost his boot, although by this time he was so dehydrated and disorientated he had not realised it had gone.

“All I could think about was that I had to keep moving. I knew I couldn’t stop because that would have been it for me,” he said.

“It was really odd when I was eventually found. I saw these lights overhead. I couldn’t hear any noise and thought it was a UFO. I remember shouting and waving to it, thinking I didn’t care if it was a UFO, I just wanted to be found.

“Seconds later I got a tap on the shoulder and three fell rescuers had arrived at the same time and were asking me if I was OK. The relief was amazing.”

Mr Hudson was taken by air to Teesside where the Sea King helicopter refuelled. He was then taken to hospital in Middlesbrough by road ambulance. He had suffered frostbite to both feet and was cold and dehydrated.

“I can’t thank the fell rescue association enough and will be visiting their headquarters soon to thank them and give them a donation,” he said. “I had no idea so many had turned out to look for me. They really are amazing people and were just concerned about my safety.”

UWFRA co-ordinator Harry Long said everyone was relieved that the walker was found.

“It was a very long time for anyone to be out there in those conditions,” he said.

“It was zero degrees, but the wind chill factor made it a heck of a lot colder. The winds must have been 35 or 40 miles an hour and it was bitterly cold.

“It certainly was a good job we found him when we did or the outcome could have been very different. The helicopter couldn’t set off because of the snow and wind and it was a case of contacting RAF Kinloss every so often to see if there was a window. Eventually the weather improved sufficiently for it to set off.

“If it hadn’t, the rescuers would have had to stretcher the walker off the hill and he would have been out in the cold for longer.”

Mr Hudson, a self-employed photocopier repairer, said he had learned something very important – to always carry a map and compass.

“If I’d brought mine I would never have got lost, but sometimes you can get blasé about safety,” he said.

“I did have warm clothing which was suitable for the walk I was doing, but obviously not enough for overnight. I only had water and a banana with me because I was only going to be out for a couple of hours.

“I have learned a valuable lesson here.”

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