The pair got stuck trying to descend Broad Stand. Photo: Bob Smith/grough

Two walkers were rescued after getting stuck on dangerous ground at a Lake District accident blackspot.

Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team was called out on Thursday after the pair called for help from Broad Stand on Scafell.

The two were brought to safety in an operation lasting more than six hours and involving 17 volunteers from the rescue team.

A passer-by reported that two people were stuck on the rockface overlooking Mickledore, and police alerted Wasdale MRT about 2.40pm.

A team spokesperson said: “Once on scene one walker was found just above the difficult step of Broad Stand while their friend had managed to make it down on to the slab below. Both were now cragfast.

“The walker above the step was brought back up and then lowered down via the abseil point whilst the lower walker was lowered all the way to the bottom. They were then walked down to Brackenclose, then taken back to their vehicle in Eskdale.”

A man fell to his death at the site in August this year, and just 24 hours later five walkers had to be rescued after getting into difficulties on Broad Stand.

The route lies between England’s two highest mountains, Scafell and Scafell Pike.

At the time of the August incidents, Wasdale MRT spokesman Richard Warren said: “The message is very clear regarding Broad Stand on Scafell: it is not a walkers’ path; it is in fact a serious descent or ascent that should not be undertaken lightly unless you have climbing skills and a rope.

“Finding a route down to the final rock step in bad weather is extremely challenging. The rock is extremely slippery when damp.

“The route is exposed with severe drops. A simple slip can lead to a 60m to 100m fall resulting in life-threatening injuries.”

Lakeland poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge is thought to have been an early explorer of the route. It is believed he may have descended Broad Stand in 1802 during which he said ‘My limbs were all in a tremble’.

A safer descent for walkers can be made by heading east from the summit of Scafell or south-east from Symonds Knott to Foxes Tarn, from where a less exposed gully leads to the Mickledore path on the Eskdale side of the massif.