Snowdon. Photo: Martin Morris

Snowdon. Photo: Martin Morris

The first time he was rescued from the top of Snowdon, he was described as lucky to be alive.

But after a second rescue in five months from Wales’s highest peak, it looks more like an unfortunate 42-year-old from Manchester is short on luck. The unnamed man was found on the Pyg Track after falling about 15m (50ft) and ending up in a pile of snow and hail, to be found by two walkers who came across him.

The first time the ill fated summiteer came a cropper, he was mistaken for a pile of rubbish at the new Hafod Eryri cafe under construction on top of the 1,085m (3,560ft) peak by three men undertaking the Three Peaks Challenge.

He suffered hypothermia and frostbite after spending a night on the mountain, and the challengers’ prompt action probably saved his life.

But now, the man has had to be plucked again from Snowdon after his fall above on the most popular route up the mountain.

Ian Henderson, secretary of the Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team, said the rescuers were called out about 1pm after a man was found by walkers near the outfall of Glaslyn on Snowdon, reported with a lower leg injury..

He was rescued by RAF Valley 22 squadron and flown to Ysbyty Gwynedd for treatment.

He said: “He was subsequently identified as a previous client.”

In October last year, he was found in the doorway of the new summit building at 7.45am, unconscious after a night on the mountain. The three put him in an emergency bivvy bag and put their spare clothes on him.

He was then put on a train on the Snowdon Mountain Railway and taken to the Halfway station, from where an RAF helicopter took him to Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor.

At the time, Mr Henderson said: “He is a very lucky man. It was only the spectacular work of those who found him that means he is still alive.”

There have been repeated warnings by police and mountain rescue teams of the serious nature of Snowdon during the winter season, which saw four fatalities in the space of 11 days last month.