- Incident
- 57 in 2025
- Type
- Full Callout — Lost
- Location
- Cam Spout, Scafell
- Weather
- Cloudy Summits
- Other Agencies
- Coastguard, Coniston MRT, Cumbria Police, Duddon & Furness MRT, Lake District Mountain Rescue Search Dogs, Rescue 199 from Prestwick
- Tagged
- Missing Person
A call was received yesterday evening from Cumbria Police. A young walker had separated from his family group in misty conditions shortly after beginning their descent from Scafell Pike summit. He had not been located after two and half hours, and there was growing concern for his safety.
The Team Leader acted quickly to initiate search assets from many resources, including DFMRT, search dogs and a Coastguard helicopter Rescue R199 from Prestwick. A Coniston MRT team member camping locally with his family also kindly offered to help. Due to declining daylight and the possibility of a longer operation should the hasty searches be unsuccessful, formal search management was also established in readiness for a request for help from all Lake District MRTs for an escalated search on Saturday.
As the hasty search was expanding, with team members searching routes all over the Scafell Massif, a 999 text message was received by Cumbria Police from two wild campers in Upper Eskdale. This indicated the name and location of the missing walker. With this excellent news, a nearby Duddon and Furness MRT search team arrived quickly, establishing that the walker had sustained minor injuries only. Rescue 199 also diverted quickly to the location and was on the ground at that location within 15 minutes of the text arriving. The walker was then flown to Brackenclose to be reunited with his very relieved and grateful family. All teams stood down and returned to their respective bases and homes.
A great outcome for what was a very worrying situation. We’d like to thank all the agencies involved for their rapid deployment and teamwork. A special mention also for the wild campers for looking after the walker after they heard his shouts and having the knowledge to send a 999 text when there is no mobile phone signal.
Incident started at 19:11 and ended at 00:51 making 5.7 hrs in total. There were 27 Wasdale team members involved and the incident occured at NY 21514 05511. Total rescuer hours: 154
