Someone Pressed the SOS Button in Upper Eskdale: What Actually Happens Next
Most people who own a satellite communicator have never pressed the button, and have only a vague idea what happens when they do.
Here is the whole chain, from your wrist to the team walking up the valley - using a real callout from earlier this month.
At nine o'clock on the evening of Saturday 5 September, Cumbria Police took a call from the Coastguard UK Mission Control Centre.
Somebody in upper Eskdale had a knee injury. The Coastguard could give the police a grid reference: NY 21582 02843. Ten metres of precision, in one of the more remote valleys in England, in the dark. If you want to see where that is, drop it into our UK Grid Reference Finder.
That information had not come from a 999 call. It had come from a Garmin emergency activation - somebody pressing the SOS button on a satellite communicator.
Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team turned out, with Duddon and Furness MRT called in for numbers in case a stretcher carry was needed. Because the information about the casualty's condition was limited, a local team member went straight up to find and assess them while the rest of the team assembled. The knee was strapped, the casualty walked out with support, and they were dropped at their vehicle.
The callout in numbers
Date: Saturday 5 September 2026
Location: upper Eskdale, NY 21582 02843
Times: 21:00 to 00:36
Injury: knee
Teams: Wasdale MRT, with Duddon and Furness MRT
Effort: 10 Wasdale members, 36 rescuer hours
It is not a dramatic story. That is rather the point.
What Actually Happens When You Press the Button
The chain is longer than most people imagine, and it crosses the Atlantic twice.
- You hold the SOS button. There is a deliberate delay and a confirmation step, because accidental activations are a real problem.
- The device finds a satellite. inReach devices use the Iridium network, which covers the whole planet including the poles. You need a view of the sky.
- The alert goes to Garmin Response, in Montgomery, Texas. This is the 24-hour coordination centre - previously called the GEOS IERCC, then the Garmin IERCC. Same operation, current name is Garmin Response.
- A coordinator messages you back. They acknowledge the alert and ask what has happened. This is the part people do not expect: it is a conversation, not a siren.
- Garmin Response contacts the right national authority. In the UK, that means HM Coastguard's UK Mission Control Centre at the National Maritime Operations Centre in Fareham.
- The Coastguard passes it to the police. In upper Eskdale, Cumbria Police.
- The police page the mountain rescue team. Mountain rescue in England and Wales is called out by the police, always.
- The messaging continues throughout. Your position keeps updating, and the coordinator relays between you and the people coming to get you until the rescue is complete or cancelled.
Steps 5, 6 and 7 are exactly what Wasdale describe in their own report of the Eskdale callout.
📍 A Simple Way To Think About It
A 999 call is like shouting to someone across a field. It is fast, it is direct, and it only works if they are close enough to hear you.
An inReach SOS is more like posting a letter with your exact address printed on it - to a switchboard in Texas that knows which local service to ring. It takes longer. It goes further. And critically, the address is already on the envelope, so nobody has to work out where you are.
Neither is better. They do different jobs. If you have signal and can talk, ring 999 and ask for police, then mountain rescue.
What the Button Sends, and What It Doesn't
It sends:
- Your exact GPS position, updated as you move
- Two-way text messages with a Garmin Response coordinator, and where possible with the responding agency directly
- Notification to the emergency contacts you registered
It does not send:
- Any information about what is wrong with you. That comes from the text conversation, which is why the Eskdale team was working with limited information and sent a single member ahead to find out
- Anything at all without an active subscription. SOS and access to Garmin Response are included with an active inReach plan, but the plan has to be live - our two-way satellite plan cost calculator will show you what the various plans actually cost
- A guarantee of speed. In clear sky with a good view, a message typically gets through in a minute or two. In a steep-sided valley, under trees, or in heavy cloud, it can take considerably longer
And it is worth saying plainly: the subscription covers the coordination, not the rescue. In the UK, mountain rescue teams are volunteers and there is no charge for a callout - but the helicopter, the ambulance and everything downstream of it are a separate matter entirely.
If you are weighing an inReach against the alternatives, we have compared them properly in Satellite Phone vs Garmin inReach.
Why the Grid Reference Mattered So Much
Compare Eskdale with a callout Wasdale attended a fortnight earlier.
On Saturday 22 August, a couple descending Scafell Pike in the dark rang 999. The call arrived with no location data at all, and the comms were poor. The team leader had to narrow them down to Sty Head by talking to them - working out where they were from conversation, in the dark, over a bad line.
On 5 September, the position arrived before the phone call did.
That is the entire argument for a satellite communicator in one comparison. Not that it summons help faster - it usually doesn't - but that the help knows where to go.
If you do not carry a satellite device, the next best thing is knowing how to hand over your position quickly on the phone. We have covered that in How to Give Mountain Rescue Your Exact Location, and explained the app most walkers ask about in what3words - what is it and how can it be used?
What This Looks Like Where You Walk
The terrain decides how much of this matters.
Open Northumberland moorland - the Cheviots, Simonside, the Otterburn ranges
Sky view is excellent, so an inReach message will usually get out in a minute or two. Mobile signal is patchy and unreliable, and often better on high ground than in the valleys. This is classic satellite communicator country: the sky is open even where the mast coverage isn't.
Steep-sided valleys - upper Eskdale, Borrowdale, Great Langdale, Glen Coe
You can only see a slice of sky, so the device has to wait for a satellite to pass through it. Expect it to take longer, and hold the device out with a clear view upwards rather than keeping it against your chest or in a pocket. This is also where mobile signal fails most completely, which is why these valleys account for so many of the difficult callouts.
Forested ground - Kielder, Galloway, the Trossachs
The worst case for both. Conifer canopy blocks sky and there is rarely any signal. If you carry one thing here, carry the satellite device, and step into a clearing to send.
Five Things to Do Before You Ever Need It
This is the part we cover on every course, because the button is the easy bit. It is a good chunk of what we work through on GPS in the Hills.
- Register your emergency contacts in your Garmin account, and tell those people they are on the list. A coordinator ringing your sister at 3am is a great deal more useful if your sister knows why.
- Check your subscription is active. Suspended plans are the single most common reason a device does not do what its owner expected. Check it before every big trip, not just once a year.
- Send a test message from somewhere with open sky before you go anywhere serious. It takes two minutes and it tells you the device is paired, subscribed and working.
- Learn how to cancel an SOS. Accidental activations happen. Knowing how to cancel one calmly, and staying with the device until you have confirmation it is cancelled, saves a team a wasted night.
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Register your phone for emergency SMS. Text the word
registerto 999, read the reply, and text backyes. It takes thirty seconds and gives you a way to get a message out when there is not enough signal for a voice call. You need to do it again if you change your number.
💡 Did You Know? Emergency SMS is not a substitute for a call. Relay UK, who run it, are clear that it is slower than a voice 999 call, and a delivery report does not mean anybody has read it - you wait for their reply. But it works on a fraction of the signal a call needs, which makes it a genuinely useful middle rung between "full bars" and "nothing at all".
When Not to Press It
An SOS is for a genuine emergency: serious injury, serious illness, or a situation you cannot get yourself out of.
It is not for being tired, being late, or being unsure of the way. Every one of those has a better answer - and if you have an inReach, you can send a normal text message to someone at home to say you will be late, which prevents an awful lot of unnecessary callouts.
The Broad Stand incident the day before the Eskdale callout is worth thinking about here. Four eighteen-year-olds got cragfast on ground Wasdale list as an accident black spot, and a Coastguard helicopter winched all four off. That was a genuine emergency by the time it was called in - but it started as a route choice made on a screen, and it is the kind of situation that is far better avoided on the map than resolved by a button.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens when you press SOS on a Garmin inReach?
The alert goes via the Iridium satellite network to Garmin Response in Montgomery, Texas. A coordinator messages you to ask what has happened, then contacts the relevant national authority. In the UK that is HM Coastguard, who pass it to the police, who call out mountain rescue.
Do you need a subscription for inReach SOS to work?
Yes. SOS capability and access to Garmin Response are included with an active inReach subscription. Check your plan is live before a trip - suspended subscriptions are a common and avoidable problem.
How long does an inReach message take to send?
Usually a minute or two with a clear view of the sky. In a steep valley, under tree cover or in heavy cloud it can take considerably longer, so hold the device where it can see as much sky as possible.
Is a satellite communicator better than a phone in the UK hills?
They do different jobs. A phone is faster when you have signal. A satellite communicator works where there is none, and sends your exact position automatically - which is what shortens a search.
Does a mountain rescue callout cost anything in the UK?
Mountain rescue teams in England, Wales and Scotland are volunteer organisations and do not charge for a callout. Your inReach subscription covers the coordination service, not the rescue itself.
Can I cancel an accidental SOS?
Yes, and you should know how before you need to. Cancel it on the device, then stay with it until you have confirmation from the coordinator that the cancellation has been received.
The button is the easy part. Everything before it is where the training goes.
If you are not certain your device is set up properly, that is exactly what we are here for.
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