The women were found on the slopes of Slight Side, left
Two women were rescued after spending the night lost on the Scafell Pike range.
A Royal Navy Sea King helicopter and a Lake District Mountain Rescue Search Dog handler and animal joined Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team in the hunt for the walkers.
The pair had set off for Scafell Pike yesterday evening as part of a group of five, but took a different route and wandered on to the adjacent mountain Scafell.
Richard Warren of the rescue team said: “At around 10.30pm last night a 999 call was received by Cumbria Police from a concerned husband.
“His group of five had set off to climb Scafell Pike late Monday afternoon.
A dog and handler and a Sea King from HMS Gannet joined the search. Photo: Wasdale MRT
“When they arrived at the path junction in Hollow Stones just after 5pm that afternoon the father and two sons headed for the summit via Mickledore while the wife and sister, in their late 40s and late 50s, decided to take the easier route via Lingmell Col.
“The plan was to meet on the summit but the two ladies were not seen again.
“When contacted by the police the team leader decided to wait until first light before calling the full team out as many manage to walk out early in the morning.
“The couple who were fit and well had been to the summit then made a navigational error and headed down into Eskdale and came to a halt on steep ground.
“They had mobile contact with the team leader but had been unable to give sufficient information to locate their position sufficiently for a night-time search or be safely talked off the mountain.
Mountain rescuers at the scene. Photo: Wasdale MRT
“They were eventually found at 8.45am by team members.
“They were tired, cold and hungry but had managed to keep their spirits up until they were located on the southern slopes of Slight Side, below Scafell.”
The 13 members of the Wasdale team were aided in the search by the dog and handler and a helicopter from HMS Gannet in Ayrshire.
Mr Warren added: “Walkers are reminded to take sufficient clothing, equipment and food for emergency situations such as this and also to keep together especially in groups with limited navigation skill.
“The two ladies had a map and compass but the potential knowledge was with the other sub-group.”
AdyGray
17 July 2013You have to be kidding me? This is plain crazy. They went up as a group to walk Scafell Pike, separated at Hollow Stones and whilst one party went up via Mickledore the other pair decided to take the easier route up via Lingmell col but "wandered" onto Scafell due to a "navigational error"? Lingmell col is north of Scafell Pike, Mickledore is south-west of Scafell Pike. Scafell itself is south of Scafell Pike. Just how is it possible to "wander" onto Scafell? The only ways up from Hollow Stones are Broad Stand - rope-climbing territory; Lord's Rake - a grade 1 scramble; Foxes Tarn - the other side of Mickledore where their friends were headed. They had to have headed up Lord's Rake but that would mean a right-turn instead of a left-turn when they split from their group. So the stupidity - and that's all that can be said about people with no navigational skills or a sense of left and right splitting from a group - have cost thousands of £s for a mountain rescue. They should be made to pay a fee for their rescue. No excuses...
alan
17 July 2013I agree totally with Ady.
Mick H
18 July 2013Agree with comment from Ady.
MountainSafety.co.uk
20 July 2013The main point here is that the party should not have split up in the first place
Gary Howse
10 September 2015I totally agree with Mountain Safety - never, ever split your group unless its part of an incident.
Roger Carlton
21 October 2024Ah, but I know this incident from talking to the people concerned. And the article above is somewhat misleading, and Ady has been led astray by it and jumped to conclusions that are not valid; and in turn, he has led others astray! They did not summit Scafell as could be implied from this report. They went left at Hollow Stones, but then missed the turning for Scafell Pike, and instead kept going on that path. Eventually, they realised their mistake and turned round and did in fact climb up Scafell Pike, but, as many do, they came off the Pike the 'wrong' way, and headed towards Eskdale. By this time they were cold, hungry, phone battery was dying and the signal was non existent almost everywhere.....
Not good to split up, perhaps. But the women did have a map, compass, and it was clear weather.... so they should have been fine, just like the father and the 'two' boys. (Actually, that's another factual error. The father had four sons with him.)