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

Two walkers were rescued after getting stuck on steep ground at a Lake District accident black spot.

The pair became cragfast on Broad Stand on Sca Fell on Friday.

Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team was alerted about 1.20pm after the two walkers called police, saying they were stuck on a cliff face.

A team spokesperson said: “The eastings and northings provided put the people by Broad Stand close to the abseil point.”

Rescuers set out in two vehicles, with two more team members using their own cars to respond to the callout. An advanced Wasdale MRT party secured the two cragfast walkers and they were then lowered to other team members at the bottom of Broad Stand.

The pair were then escorted off the mountain to their car and drove back to their hotel in Bowness on Windermere.

The 5½-hour rescued involved 11 Wasdale MRT volunteers.

Broad Stand has been the site of numerous incidents, including fatalities. In 2018 a man fell to his death, and just 24 hours later five walkers had to be rescued after getting into difficulties there.

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

Wasdale MRT said the route is not a walkers’ route, with a difficult rock step for anyone attempting to ascend or descend it. There are exposed sections where a slip can lead to a fall of up to 100m and 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 from the summit of Sca Fell is to take the path to Foxes Tarn, from where a less exposed gully leads to the Mickledore path on the Eskdale side of the massif.