Burnmoor Tarn. Photo Alan Cleaver

A woman and her daugher slept on the Cumbrian fells as a massive search operation went on around them last night.

The two walkers, one in her eighties and another in her fifties, were reported missing by staff at the Eskdale campsite where they were staying, after they failed to return from a trip to the summit of Scafell. 30 mountain rescuers, three Search and Rescue Dogs Association handlers and their animals, and an RAF Sea King helicopter all took part in the search.

The women became benighted after descending from England’s second-highest peak with their three collie dogs. Police issued a statement expressing their concern for the women and appealing for sightings.

A major operation was launched by Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team, searching both the Wasdale and Eskdale sides of Scafell Pike and Scafell. Incredibly, the women and their dogs slept through the noise of the rescuers’ whistles and the RAF helicopter circling overhead.

The women, from York, and their three pets made it safe back down to their camp at about 6am this morning, but it was another 2½ hours before they let the police know they were safe, and the rescuers were finally stood down.

Richard Warren, chairman of the Wasdale MRT, was with a group searching on the south-western flanks of Scafell. He told grough: “They left about 7.30am and on the board it said to Scafell and Scafell Pike, so we were searching both mountains. We believe they had got to the summit of Scafell and were returning.

“They hunkered down with the three dogs at set off again at first light, which would have been about 3.30am.

Richard Warren

“We were searching from Boot to Burnmoor Tarn. They would appear to have descended from Scafell to Burnmoor Tarn and turned left to go back to the Boot area.

“We think they were probably in the Whillan Beck area. We must have passed them by about a couple of hundred metres.

“We mobilised the Cockermouth and Duddon and Furness teams and a helicopter from RAF Valley also took part. They did a good job – they were doing an infra-red search on Scafell’s upper slopes.”

Mr Warren said a Search and Rescue Dogs Association handler heard a dog barking, which he didn’t think sounded like one of the other search dogs and he went back and checked the route but didn’t find anyone.

He said: “They got back at six in the morning but didn’t let us know until about 8.30am. The police had left a note on their tent to tell them to get in touch if they got back.

“But it was a happy ending. When you get an 80-year-old there is the concern that they have gone down with heatstroke or have other serious difficulties.

“It was roasting hot, with no wind; the cloud was down on the top of the Pike. It also threw it down later in the night. Where they were, they would have got drenched.

“But they were well equipped and they did the right thing.”

The rescuer, who also chairs the Lake District Search and Mountain Rescue Association, said it was important walkers let police know they have returned safe if they have been caught out on the hills at night.

He said: “The message is that if people are benighted or out for an exceptionally long time they need to check that somebody hasn’t called out mountain rescue. Even if they have been out all night on the mountain they should phone in to say they are safe.”

• Members of the Wasdale MRT were called out earlier in the evening, to help a climber who had fallen at about 8pm from sea cliffs near the St Bees lighthouse.

He was airlifted to West Cumberland Hosptial, Whitehaven, by a Sea King helicopter from HMS Gannet, Prestwick.Members of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and the Coastguard also attended the incident.