Fell first-aid pocket cards

Four cards from one sheet of A4, printed on one side only. Cut, fold, and they live in the lid pocket of your rucksack. The wording is taken straight from the fell first-aid guide — this is the same advice, in a form that works when your phone is dead, wet, or in your other pocket.

This is paper, not training. The cards help you remember an order and make a decision; they cannot teach you to act. The guide’s courses worth taking section is the part that does that.

How to make them:

Print this page single-sided, at 100% scale — never “fit to page”, which shrinks the folds out of alignment.
Cut along the two dashed lines into four A6 quarters.
Fold each quarter along its dotted line, printed sides out. The back panel is printed upside down on purpose, so it lands the right way up.
Fill in card 4 in pen before you set off. Writing it down is the preparation.

← Back to the full fell first-aid guide · Navigation & comms guide

✂ cut ✂ cut

Card 1 · Primary survey

DR ABC

DDanger — Make the scene safe before you approach.

RResponse — Shake gently, shout: “Are you OK?” No response: shout for help, send someone to call.

AAirway — Tilt the head back, lift the chin.

BBreathing — Look, listen, feel — for no more than 10 s. Breathing: recovery position, keep warm, monitor.

CNot breathing: start CPR now — 30 compressions : 2 breaths, about 100–120 a minute, hard and fast in the centre of the chest.

hikes.guide/features/first-aid · not a substitute for training

Card 1 · Reverse

Calling for help

☎999 → ask for Police → Mountain Rescue.

✉No signal? Text 999 — but you must have pre-registered by texting the word register to 999 beforehand.

⌖Location: your six-figure OS grid reference or what3words location.

⚑Give your phone number — they’ll call back. Stay on the line if you can.

Card 2 · The decision

Walk out, or call?

✗Ankle — can’t bear weight, or bony tenderness: immobilise and call.

✗Lower-leg fracture (deformity, severe pain): splint and stretcher.

✗Head injury — any loss of consciousness, confusion or vomiting: call immediately.

✗Moderate hypothermia — not shivering, confused: movement risks the heart. Shelter, warm, wait.

✓Bears weight, no bony tenderness, moderate descent: self-evacuate with support if pain allows.

any red flag: stop, shelter and call — don’t walk them out

Card 2 · Reverse

What to tell Mountain Rescue

1Grid ref / what3words:

2People in your party:

3What happened, and when:

4Conscious? Breathing? Warm?

5Your phone number:

all their callouts are genuine — you are not wasting their time

Card 3 · The kit

What’s in the bag

An emergency bivvy bag — the single most useful thing for a stationary, cold casualty

A survival whistle — six blasts, pause, repeat

A change of warm layers in a dry sack — dry clothes are first-aid kit

A SAM splint — ankle and lower-leg injuries are the number-one callout

A 7.5 cm crepe bandage, and a triangular bandage for a sling

Hydrocolloid blister plasters · zinc-oxide tape · Steri-Strips

A CPR face shield with a one-way valve

Head-torch and spare batteries · power bank · ibuprofen

check it the night before, not in the car park

Card 3 · Reverse

Hypothermia — the umbles

❄Stumbles (watch their feet) · mumbles (slurred speech) · fumbles (can’t manage a zip) · grumbles (irrational irritability). Any two, in someone who was fine an hour ago: treat it as hypothermia.

⚠Get out of the wind. Insulate from the ground. Dry layers, foil blanket or bivvy. Warm sweet drinks only if mild and responsive.

✖No alcohol. Don’t rub the limbs. Don’t make them walk it off.

not improving, or shivering stopped? call 999

Card 4 · Before you go

Today’s plan — in pen

→Route:

⤴Escape routes:

⚑Car parked at:

⏱Expect to be off the hill by:

writing it down is the preparation

Card 4 · Reverse

Who knows the plan

☎Told:

⏰They raise the alarm if not heard from by:

♥Party notes (medication, conditions):

hikes.guide · walked & written in the Lake District

and tell them when you’re off the hill, so no one calls it in