The walkers took shelter in the Sty Head stretcher box. Photo: Bob Smith/grough

Three teenagers were rescued after getting into difficulties attempting the ascent of Scafell Pike in poor weather.

At one point the three youths climbed into the stretcher box at Sty Head for shelter.

The trio of pre-university school leavers had been tackling the national Three Peaks and had summited Snowdon a couple of days previously.

Keswick Mountain Rescue Team, which went to the walkers’ aid, said the three young men had scheduled Scafell Pike, on their trip northwards, for Monday.

A team spokesperson said: “Despite looking at the weather forecast and thinking it won’t be too bad, they set off in the rain from Seathwaite. They passed Sty Head Tarn and continued along the Corridor Route in strengthening winds and persistent rain.

“Their progress was becoming increasingly difficult due to the conditions and they started to get seriously cold, especially as one of the young men’s poncho had blown off in a strong gust.

“They realised they were potentially in danger and were concerned enough for their safety that they called 999 and asked for mountain rescue assistance.

“They retraced their route making it back to the stretcher box at Sty Head Pass, into which they all climbed and shivered to wait for rescue. They sent an accurate location from there using What3Words.”

The youngsters were met on the Sty Head path. Photo: Keswick MRT

Two well equipped walkers were passing and found them, helping with some spare clothing they had, and encouragement to keep walking down in to try to generate some warmth. One team member who lives in Seathwaite met them above the 1,000ft boulder on the path to Sty Head. He was in the process of giving extra clothing, food and drink when the main rescue party arrived with further supplies.

The spokesperson said: “The three were walked back down to the valley and given a long lecture about mountain preparedness, weather and safety. The lads were humble, apologetic, receptive, and have certainly learnt a lot from their experience.

“They promised to get things right for ‘the Ben’.”

The 2¼-hour incident involved 13 team members.

The Keswick team was also involved in a major search on Monday morning for a family of three that had reported themselves lost on the north-west side of Scafell Pike.

The rescue was passed to Wasdale MRT about 9.40pm on Sunday as the incident was in its area, but early on Monday morning the Wasdale team requested the help of the Keswick, Duddon and Furness and RAF Leeming teams after failing to find the missing family in an overnight search in foul weather. Search dogs and handlers also joined the operation.

Teams continued the search from Eskdale, Wasdale and Borrowdale before being stood down shortly before 8am when the family safely made its way down to Wasdale.