Snowdon. Photo by Steve Cadman

Snowdon. Photo by Steve Cadman

Three walkers tackling the Three Peaks Challenge have won the praise of a mountain rescue team.

The three went to the aid of an unconscious man at the summit of Snowdon yesterday morning, Friday. They found the 40-year-old sheltering in the doorway of the still unopened Hafod Eryri cafe and wrapped him in their spare clothes.

The unconscious man, from Manchester, was described as lucky to be alive by rescuers after spending the night on the mountain. He had no coat and was wearing trainers. The summit of Snowdon was covered in snow and buffeted by 60mph (100km/h) winds.

The Three Peakers put the man, whom they first mistook for a pile of rubbish, into an emergency bivvy bag and one of them set off down the mountain to a spot where he could get a mobile phone signal to summon help.

Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team dealt with the incident. Ian Henderson of the team said, by chance, a train was already on its way up the mountain. Staff from the railway worked with the walkers to get the man into the building and attempt to revive him.

He was then put on the train which carried him halfway down, from where a search and rescue helicopter form RAF Valley airlifted him to the Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor.

He was described as suffering from hypothermia and frostbite.