The MRT hub was an unexpected vision of calm. Radio contact with the teams was constant, and Kelly heard the low controlled hum of instructions and information flowing both ways. She was put immediately at ease. People who came and went smiled at her as they heaved equipment in and out of the sheds. She looked at the photographs on the walls as she waited. There were framed news articles about the team’s successes, and generally saving people’s lives. She watched as members gathered their familiar red jackets and white helmets, ready for another long day, though perhaps not as frenetic as yesterday. It was the worst disaster ever seen in the Lake District.

‘Right, Kelly, let’s go. Here’s a helmet. I’m expecting Johnny to come back with us, how long will you need?’ one of the team asked her. It was a woman in her mid-fifties and the exchange left Kelly in awe of the people who risked their lives to bring people safely off the mountains, day or night, in their own time. Their experience and skills were impressive and she felt small and insignificant in comparison.

‘A couple of hours?’ Kelly asked. ‘I’ve got to conduct an interview at the Wasdale Inn too.’ The woman nodded, leading her out to the road between the building and Crow Park, where the coast guard helicopter could land. It was a lovely open green space right next to Derwent Water, and it was quiet at this time of the year. Most tourists stayed away for the Christmas season, and Kelly thought to herself how much bigger this job would have been had it happened mid-summer. Only dog walkers and the odd family frequented the grassy area, and they stood with gaping open mouths as the helicopter landed. Everybody knew that it would have something to do with the accident on Scafell Pike, and people stopped to watch.

Kelly watched the spinning blades as they got closer, and her nerves got the better of her and made her stomach do flip-flops. She had no time to pull out and she followed the woman blindly, until she was being ushered into the back and her seatbelt fastened. She was handed headphones, and the woman got into the front seat next to the pilot. She listened to them discussing the carnage on the mountain.

‘It’s a mess up there. More bodies to come down. The weather is coming down too,’ he said.