A RENOWNED British mountaineer has expressed regret over 'off the cuff' comments he made describing mountain rescue as 'sport'.

Sir Chris Bonington was asked at the Cheltenham Literary Festival about his opinion of people who went into the hills ill prepared and called for help.

It was reported that Sir Chris said that mountain rescue had become a 'sport in itself' with mountain rescue teams 'racing' to get to casualties first.

"But in actual fact, there's quite an industry actually for rescuing people," The Telegraph reported Sir Chris saying. "In Britain what is amazing is the mountain rescue teams are totally voluntary so they're volunteers and they love doing it."

The comments sparked backlash on social media, with a Patterdale Mountain Rescue spokesperson writing on the team's Facebook page that the comments were 'disappointing and frustrating'.

"Whilst the team actively encourages people to use the fells and mountains of the UK, we do our best not to criticise even when our patience is tested," they wrote. "We would like to encourage those venturing into the wilder parts of the UK to do so in a sensible and prepared manner. Patterdale and other rescue teams will always be there to help should you need us but we are at the end of the day volunteers.

"We all have day jobs, families and lives to lead outside of mountain rescue. We all love being part of the team but ever increasing demands on our time through fund raising, rescues and training does take it's toll."

However, Sir Chris has since said that the remarks were reported 'without their full context'.

In a statement, he said: "Anyone who knows me will be in no doubt that I hold those in Mountain Rescue in the highest regard.

"Recently, I was taking part in an onstage interview about my new autobiography Ascent at the Cheltenham Literary Festival and when the session was opened up to questions from the floor, among many queries on many topics, I was asked my opinion of people who went into the hills ill prepared and who called for help unnecessarily. I stated that Mountain Rescue was entirely voluntary and what a good job the teams do, but I also made a light-hearted comment that rescue had almost become a sport in itself and that teams from different valleys had competed to reach a casualty first. This has undoubtedly happened occasionally in the past, but most certainly hasn't been the case in recent years when co-ordination between teams is very close."

He added that there were some 'serious issues' that he thought needed to be considered in an era in which more people were heading into the mountains with a lack of basic skills and inadequate clothing and equipment.

"While it is heartening that so many people are being inspired to explore the outdoors, we have a job to do to ensure that the less experienced are properly prepared for their time in our upland areas," he wrote. "The idea of the outdoors as sport is something that the wider general public can related to, even more so now that climbing will soon make its debut at the Olympic Games.

"That is the context within which I made my somewhat tongue-in-cheek remarks in Cheltenham, right off the cuff, which were reported without their full context and which I do indeed regret."