Call from Whitehaven Police regarding a group (with a mobile phone) who were reporting themselves to be in difficulty and lost on the descent from Scafell. The team leader spoke to the lost party on the mobile and was advised that they were a group of four adults, reasonably well equipped but lost, having been on the summit of Scafell. They had been attempting to descend to Burnmoor Tarn with a final destination of Wasdale Head. They thought they were somewhere on Eskdale Fell. Their Global Satellite Positioning System (GPS) was "playing up" (but subsequently turned out to be wrongly pre-set). They were prepared to continue walking if given some guidance. They were asked to walk north until they could find and follow a good feature – Oliver Gill. That should have brought them down to a level where they could see Burnmoor Tarn and find their own way off the mountain. However, 15 minutes later, they rang back to say that their way was barred by a large crag. This information suggested that they were about two kilometres further north than they thought and that they were in fact at the top of Rake End Crags, a different part of Scafell. The team leader suggested they keep moving but in a different direction. However, due to the uncertainty of their navigation, they preferred to sit where they were and wait for the team. Given that there had been very heavy rain and low cloud all day and fresh winds were prevailing, there was no real option but to locate them and escort them off the mountain. Eight team members were sent to find the lost party and bring them safely down to the hospitality of the Wasdale Head Hotel. The group were taken back at the Hotel at around 2230 hrs. to see the personal account of the rescue and picture of the group see ………..
Incident started at 18:40 and ended at 22:30 making 3.8 hrs in total. There were 8 Wasdale team members involved. Total rescuer hours: 30
