A rescue team member during the search. Photo: Keswick MRT

A man made his way off the Lake District fells after spending a night on the mountains when he got lost.

Rescuers failed to find the man despite the efforts of two teams.

The walker became exhausted while trying to reach the summit of Scafell Pike in high winds. He was attempting to ascend the mountain from Seathwaite in Borrowdale.

After failing to make the summit, he began his descent, but mistakenly made his way into Wasdale before climbing back up on to the fells to make his back to Seathwaite.

Keswick Mountain Rescue Team was called out about midnight on Sunday to help colleagues from the Cockermouth team. A Keswick MRT spokesperson said: “He lost his way on the Sty Head path and said he thinks he passed the night on the slopes of Great Gable from where he called for help.

“Unfortunately the signal was not strong enough to fix an accurate location before the battery died but placed him somewhere at the top of the Ennerdale valley, hence Cockermouth’s involvement.

“A small team from Keswick set off at half past midnight to cover the obvious descent paths back to Borrowdale from the Great Gable and Sty Head area.

“The weather was cool and dry but very windy. On our approach to Sty Head Tarn it seemed like it had started to rain but in fact it turned out to be spray being picked up off the tarn.”

Team members searched several areas without success. The spokesperson said: “The search along part of the Corridor Route and up Aaron Slack to Windy Gap proved fruitless although the man later said he had seen torches near Sty Head Pass but was unable to respond as he didn’t have a torch or whistle.

“The team got home around 5am and the man made his own way back to his car in daylight none the worse for his night out.”

Six Keswick MRT members were involved in the incident, which lasted 4¾ hours.