Cleveland Mountain Rescue Team was formed as Cleveland Search and Rescue Team in the mid sixties following the popularity of the 42 mile Lyke Wake Walk. When some attempting the walk became lost or injured the National Park Wardens were having to deal with the problem so they formed the North York Moors Rescue Teams. Due to the vast area of the moors, two teams were formed: Cleveland Team covering the northern area and our sister team, Scarborough and Ryedale Search and Rescue Team covering the southern area.
Since those days, when we relied on members’ Landrovers for transport and borrowed and begged equipment, we have evolved to be amongst the best equipped and most highly trained mountain rescue teams in the country.

In 2012 in line with most of the other rescue teams in the country to enhance our corporate identity, we renamed ourselves Cleveland Mountain Rescue Team.

Since our foundation in 1965 we have been called out around 1800 times. Initially most of our incidents were searches, often linked to the Lyke Wake walk, with the occasional slipped walker with a broken leg. In the last twenty years, with the coming of more leisure time, along with mountain bikes and paragliders we have had to deal with more serious injuries and the ratio of searches to rescues is now about 1 in 3. These days, more often than not, searches will involve us looking for a vulnerable person particularly those suffering from depression or dementia.

Recently we have also become much more water aware and are trained and equipped to work in flood situations such as York in December 2015.

One thing hasn’t changed in the last 50 years: The Team is still made up out of people from all walks of life who are experienced hill goers and who are willing to drop whatever they are doing 24 hours a day 365 days a year to go to the help of those lost or injured.

Mountain Rescue…”Saving Lives In Wild and Remote Places”