A mountain biker has died after a fall on a treacherous Lake District path. 

The 60 year old man, described as an experienced mountain biker, was reported missing after a planned ride around Skiddaw.

Keswick Mountain Rescue Team and six handlers and search dogs from the Lake District Mountain Rescue Search Dogs combed the area, focussing on the track between Whitewater Dash, Skiddaw House and Keswick. The missing man's body was found in the early hours of this morning, 60 metres down a steep rocky gully close to Lonscale Fell.

'He had obviously fallen a long way, and had suffered multiple fatal injuries' say Keswick MRT. 'His bike was found fairly close to a path section on Lonscale Fell which is notoriously slippery when wet, and which has seen a number of accidents.'

Rescuers had to lower his body 400 metres to the track below.

Update 10/09/13

It has now been confirmed that the mountain biker was John Graham of Silloth in Cumbria.

'John's death is a huge loss to the outdoor world as he was an experienced caving and canoeing instructor and a teacher specialising in problem kids' says site user Ben Reedy, a personal friend.

'John was a big, rugged, charming character, a Yorkshireman who adopted Cumbria, loved drinking beer, yarning and generally enjoying his life, his friends and his family. John would take no nonsense from anybody and even berated feckless parents of wayward kids, telling them it was their fault not society's fault that their child was off the rails.'

'If the accident did happen where it is thought, it's just typical of John that he would have tried to ride the difficult section. We hear that his wife and some friends are going up the mountain today to see the place and try to work out in their minds what happened. What a tragic loss, John was one of the million in this world who really mattered.'