Two groups got lost on Scafell Pike
Rescuers were called out to England’s highest mountain to find three separate groups of walkers lost in poor weather.
One of the parties was found 5km (3 miles) from the summit after they walked into the wrong valley.
Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team was alerted at 1.20pm yesterday when two pairs of walkers reported themselves lost near the 978m (3,209ft)summit of Scafell Pike.
A team spokesperson said: “An attempt was made to talk them off the hill, but phone reception was soon lost and when they had not turned up a few hours later a limited callout was made to search for them.”
A dozen volunteer members of the team took part in a search lasting more than five hours.
The second group was found near the foot of Piers Gill
The spokesperson said: “They were found near Taw House in Eskdale having descended to the wrong valley.”
Meanwhile, a second call for help came from another group lost on Scafell Pike.
Wasdale MRT members began a search, with help from Lake District Mountain Rescue Search Dogs.
They were found on the other side of the mountain near the bottom of Piers Gill and the rescue ended at 6.30pm.
Mike
19 August 2013No injuries then, just no map & compass skills!
Katie
19 August 2013This is why the mountain rescue teams are so important and need more support - this could have been much worse without them!
TH
19 August 2013Mike - we don't even know if they had a map and compass.
James
19 August 2013Must admit we nearly took the wrong route down off scafell. Easy to disorient in 5m visibility, but I had a map and compass to back up my gps. 5 mins later I was back on course.
Sam kemp
19 August 2013People vastly underestimate these mountains, and the weather conditions and how they change. The mountain rescue teams have families too and are putting their lives at risk every time they go up there on a whim. Real heroes
Katie (not the same one as above)
27 August 2013It baffles me that 3 peakers choice to do this mountain at night which is by far the most technical on nav. Others don't realise that Ben Nevis can still have hard snow on the summit in June!
For a hill going newby, where do they learn map and compass work? My parents learnt through practicing on shorter, less remote walks, as did I, and we learnt from our own mistakes. I'm not sure how you educate the masses especially as the government have taken map reading out of GCSE geography!!!!