A LAKE District mountain rescue team has stressed the importance of traditional navigation skills after a man became lost on England's highest mountain.

Volunteers from Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team were called out by Cumbria Police last night (Friday) to help locate a walker who was lost in the Hollow Stones area while descending Scafell Pike.

Eleven team members made their way up the fell and were eventually able to find the walker by using the GPS satellite navigation technology on his smartphone.

The team, on their first call out of the year, pinpointed the man’s exact location and walked him down to the valley bottom.

A spokesman for Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team said: “It is worth remembering the importance of having and being able to use a map and compass in all weathers and visibility.”

Last week, the Lake District Search and Mountain Rescue Association told the Gazette that people were relying more on GPS navigation systems to find their way instead of a map and compass.

Volunteers said call outs to people using hand-held map gadgets in favour of traditional navigational skills have increased sharply.