The pair got lost searching for a plane wreck on Bleaklow. Photo: Bob Smith/grough
Two walkers were rescued after getting lost as night fell on the Peak District’s second-highest hill.
The pair had set off about 6.30pm from Snake Summit towards the site of an aircraft wreck on Bleaklow.
Glossop Mountain Rescue Team was called out about 11.35pm on Monday when the man and woman got into difficulties on the hillside.
The pair had gone in search of the wreckage of a B29 Superfortress aeroplane that flew into the moor near Higher Shelf Stones in 1948 with the loss of the 13 lives of the aircrew.
The team used the Sarloc smartphone system to pinpoint the walkers’ position, between Hern Clough and Crooked Clough, close to the Pennine Way.
A team spokesperson said: “The team sent a small group to meet up with them and walk them off the hill back to Snake Summit.”
The rescue ended at 1.15am on Tuesday.
Andrew
02 August 2018Was up there earlier that day with a group teaching navigation and ended with and extra 5 people who was trying to find the wreck as was very much going the wrong way... The main issue is that most online guides says is "JUST OFF THE PENNINE WAY" It simply is not it's around 800m's away and the path that folks try to find is not marked nor is it a WELL DEFINED path... One of the 5 we adopted was actually wondering around in the completely the wrong direction when we came across him.. He had no idea where he really was and was annoyed asthe wreck was not marked on "Google Maps". But then the best map anyone of the others had was a printed drawn map with a general route description of a website....
I have yet to got up there and not ended up advising or leading folks in the right direction...
Lack of knowledge,experience and kit is a big problem and is getting worse.... And until folks take heed of expert advise and use a little common sense this trend will continue.
Sheepy
02 August 2018To describe them as "walkers" is an insult to those who actually do it properly equipped and informed. They were just motorists.
I remember the day I did Bleaklow and found 3 people searching for the wreckage in T-shirts and jeans. One of them was a fairly young child, they had come up from the road, had no idea where they were going and then the heavens opened with torrential rain. I had to lead them back to the Pennine Way and point them back to their car.
I've lost count of how many people I see trying to navigate using Google maps on their phones.