RESCUERS were called out after a 60-year-old climber plunged 40 feet at the Thirlmere valley.

Rescuers attended the incident on the south crag of Castle Rock of Triermain at around 5.50pm yesterday.

A rescue team spokesman said : "The rock protection the man had placed while climbing ripped out."

The spokesman said the man hit the ground before tumbling down a steep slope, stopping when his rope became tight.

The man was placed on a vacuum mattress and lifted up the slope, then flown by air ambulance to hospital in Preston.