Looking Stead, looking towards the north face of Pillar

A group of 23 walkers which had to be led from a Lake District fell at the weekend comes from a college that is a ‘regular customer’ of mountain rescue services.

A five-hour mission was launched on Sunday after the youth hostel warden at Black Sail spotted a flashed distress signal high on the fells above Ennerdale. The incident follows a similar callout in May last year when 35 volunteer team members spent six hours searching for five teenagers and their 18-year-old leader.

Cockermouth Mountain Rescue Team was alerted just before 10pm on Sunday when the hostel warden spotted flashing lights on Looking Stead on Pillar.

The area, on the north side of the 892m (2,927ft) mountain has numerous crags and precipes, including Pillar Rock, home of some of Lakeland’s classic climbs. 13 Cockermouth team members were joined by 16 colleagues from the Wasdale MRT and found the group, aged between 14 and 23.

According to Mike Park of the Cockermouth team, some were wearing only t-shirts and trainers. It was misty, wet and dark, yet some of the walkers did not have torches. Some were showing early signs of hypothermia.

He said it was only a matter of luck that no-one was seriously injured. The group was from a religious college in north-east England.

The group got lost while descending from Kirk Fell and ended up on steep and dangerous ground half way down Looking Stead. The safest descent route from the area is the bridleway down from the Black Sail Pass. The rescue was described as ‘interesting’ as the teams guided 23 people, of differing fitness levels and some without torches, across the mountainside to safety.

They were taken to the Black Sail youth hostel and then driven by rescuers to their vehicle futher down the valley at Bowness Knott.

The leader of the group was also involved in the rescue last year in which the group of walkers was described as ‘clueless’ when they called for help after spending more than 18 hours on the Eskdale fells in a thunderstorm. At the time, Wasdale MRT leader Julian Carradice told grough: “They think mountain rescue is on standby for them. The Cairngorm team has had problems with them too.”

Mountain rescue teams in Britain, who are volunteers who turn out at any time, are coming under increasing pressure as the number of callouts increases, mainly due to inexperienced fellwalkers becoming lost. Cockermouth team members returned to their base at 4am.