Getting lost on a hill is rarely dramatic. More often it creeps up on you: the cloud drops, the path fades, one likely-looking gully leads to another, and suddenly the landscape you thought you knew has stopped making sense. The good news is that the response is simple, well practised, and works even when you are cold, tired and frightened. Stop. Shelter. Call for help. Then decide, calmly, whether moving is genuinely safer than staying put.

The first five minutes: stop and take stock

Fight the urge to keep walking in the hope the path reappears. Every extra step in the wrong direction makes you harder to find and eats the energy and body heat you will need later. Sit down on your rucksack, out of the wind, and give yourself a moment.

• Confirm the situation. Do you actually know where you are, or are you guessing? If you cannot point to a feature on the map and match it to something you can see, treat yourself as lost.
• Note the time. Daylight, your own fatigue and the weather forecast all matter. A decision made at 14:00 is very different from one made at 18:00 in December.
• Layer up before you cool down. Put on your spare fleece, hat and gloves, and get your waterproof shell on now, not when you start shivering.
• Eat and drink something. A sandwich and a hot drink from a flask do more for clear thinking than most people expect.

Shelter: get out of the wind and rain

Wind and wet clothing strip heat from the body far faster than cold air alone. If you are going to be stationary for more than a few minutes, build yourself a shelter. A bothy bag or group shelter takes seconds to deploy and can raise the temperature inside by several degrees, even with the door open. A survival bag or bivvy bag does the same job for one person.

• Sit on your rucksack or a foam mat rather than directly on cold ground or snow.
• Look for a natural break in the terrain: the lee side of a boulder, a bank, a wall, a stand of trees.
• Avoid gullies, stream beds and steep ground above you — they funnel wind, water and falling rock.
• Keep your phone warm inside a chest pocket or inside your jacket. Cold batteries lose charge quickly.

Calling for help: who to ring and what to say

In the UK, dial 999 or 112. Ask for the police, then ask for mountain rescue. In Scotland you can ask for mountain rescue directly. The call handler will pass your details to the appropriate team, and in most upland areas a helicopter may also be tasked. You do not need to be certain you need a team before you call — the people on the other end would far rather talk to someone who is unsure than search for someone who waited too long.

Have the following ready before you dial, so the call is short and your phone battery lasts:

• Your location — a six-figure grid reference if you can manage it, otherwise a description: the name of the hill or valley, which side you are on, what you can see below or above you, and any distinctive feature nearby.
• Your route and intentions — where you started, where you were heading, and what you have already walked.
• Numbers in your group, ages, and any injuries or medical conditions.
• Your clothing and kit — whether you have shelter, spare layers, a torch and food.
• Your phone number and network, and how much battery you have left.

Stay on the line if asked, but if the signal is poor, keep the call brief and then switch the phone to aeroplane mode to preserve power. Agree a time to try again, and text rather than call if that is more reliable.

If your phone has no signal

Signal comes and goes in the hills, and a text message will often get through where a voice call will not. If you have registered for emergency text messaging in advance, you can send a text to 999 when there is a faint signal and no voice connection. Register before you go, not on the hillside.

Then make yourself findable. The international distress signal is six blasts on a whistle or six flashes of a torch, repeated at intervals, with a minute between each set. Six is unmistakable and carries far further than shouting. Keep your torch with you rather than in a rucksack pocket, and use it to signal aircraft and search teams.

Should you walk on or stay put?

In bad weather, with no clear navigation, the default answer is stay put. You are easier to find than to track, and a stationary target gives searchers something to work with. Move only if staying genuinely puts you in danger or if you can navigate with confidence.

If you must move, do it deliberately. Follow a handrail — a stream, a wall, a fence line, a ridge — downhill towards a valley, and aim for a catching feature you cannot miss, such as a road, a loch shore or a large plantation. Take a compass bearing and walk it, checking your direction every few minutes, and time your legs. Do not descend steep, unfamiliar ground in poor visibility; crags and loose rock cause more accidents than getting lost does. Mark your position if you can, leave a note if you are leaving a shelter, and tell the rescue team if you have a working phone.

Before you go: stacking the odds in your favour

• Leave a route plan with someone reliable, including your car registration and expected return time, and tell them when you are back.
• Carry a paper map and compass and know how to use them. Batteries fail; paper does not.
• Check a mountain-specific forecast for wind, cloud base and daylight, and be willing to change your plan.
• Pack the essentials: spare layers, waterproofs, torch and spare batteries, shelter, whistle, first aid, food and water, and an emergency blanket.
• Practise navigation on short, easy days so that it is second nature when it matters.

Being lost is a situation, not a failure, and it happens to experienced hillwalkers every year. Stop early, shelter well, call for help, and give the teams the best possible chance of finding you quickly.