A NORTH-EAST pensioner was dramatically rescued after falling while on a Lake District walk.

The 79-year-old, from Redcar, east Cleveland, plunged into a waterfall and was forced to cling on to rocks above a 120ft drop for more two hours while rescue teams battled to save him on Wednesday.

Police, the fire service and Patterdale Mountain Rescue team worked to pull the man from freezing cold water at Aira Force, north of Ullswater, as he held on dangerously close to the steep drop into a main pool.

The man, who has not been named, was eventually pulled out of the water onto a stretcher and then hoisted up the sides of the gorge.

The pensioner – suffering from the symptoms of hypothermia – was flown to the Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle by air ambulance, but was later released.

A Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team spokesman said: “The casualty was cold and holding on to a crack in the vertical rock on the side of the gorge.

“The rescue was particularly difficult due to the casualty’s location, immediately above the 120ft drop of the main waterfall.

“After putting into place measures to ensure the safety of the rescue team, the man was brought out of the water, placed on a stretcher, and then hoisted up the sides of the gorge on a rope system set up by the team.

“He was then carried to the team’s Land Rover and driven to the air ambulance for transport to hospital.”

Two fire appliances from Penrith, and two from Carlisle also attended the scene.

The rescue came only weeks after a Great North Air Ambulance crew airlifted a woman to safety in one of the most daring and skilful rescues seen in the Lake District.

Eileen Garby, 62, was left bleeding from a head injury and inches from a 300ft drop after she slipped while walking along the notoriously precarious Striding Edge, on Helvellyn.

Witnesses described the rescue as stunning as pilot Steve Graham landed on the ridge, placing the rear wheels of the craft on to a path only six feet wide – with the front wheel hanging off the edge as paramedics jumped out.

The manoeuvre – known as a hot load – so rarely takes place that there is no record of when it was last carried out in the Lakes.