- Incident
- 33 in 2007
- Type
- Callout — Cragfast
- Location
- Wastwater Screes
Team paged by police after they had received a mobile ‘999’ call from a group of 5 walkers who had decided to scale the front of the Screes rather than continue along the Screes path. The group were carrying out a recce for the three peaks challenge. They had come up from Wales and could not get their vehicle up the valley due to a traffic accident blocking the road. They decided to park up and walk to Brackenclose (the start of Scafell Pike ascent). However, when they got to the boulder field they lost the path and started to climb the scree. Once started they decided it was safer to go up than down. They managed to get to within 25 metres of the ridge but could proceed no more. They were found on the northern side of Broken Rib, high above the boulder field. 10 team members went to the top of the Screes via Irton Pike and past Whin Rigg. A further 10 team members went to the Pump House at the bottom of the Screes ready to ascend if required. The crag fast group were quickly located and although in a very exposed location were assisted up to the top of the Screes and walked off via Great Hall Gill (the normal descent route) to their vehicle at Netherwasdale. The incident was closed at 8.45 p.m. – This has been the third incident on the Screes with crag fast walkers in the past 10 weeks. Photo of their location on Screes.
Incident started at 17:04 and ended at 20:45 making 3.7 hrs in total. There were 20 Wasdale team members involved and the incident occured at NY 15512 04240 (altitude 448 m). Total rescuer hours: 74