Tryfan, with the north ridge running to the summit from the right, and Heather Terrace visible, rising up the east face. Photo: Pip Rolls CC-BY-SA-2.0

Three men were led to safety after spending nine hours cragfast on a Snowdonia mountain.

The walkers, in their 40s and from the Home Counties, called for help after getting stuck on the east face of Tryfan.

The trio was given ‘warm words of advice’ after their rescue by more than 20 members of the Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Organisation in an operation described as ‘difficult’.

The alarm was raised at 3.30pm on Saturday when the men got into difficulties while tackling the North Ridge of the 917m (3,010ft) mountain.

Chris Lloyd of the Ogwen Valley team said it was one of the men’s regular weekend meets, when they climb Tryfan on Saturday and Snowdon on Sunday.

He said: “Unperturbed by the weather forecast, they made their way up the famous scramble up the North Ridge.

“Finding the gusts of wind making it too dangerous to climb the North Tower, they opted for the Eastern Traverse. The weather still prevented them from topping out so they retreated down the North Gully. Not knowing the escape route out of this gully, they strayed onto the rockclimbing grounds on the east face.”

Mr Lloyd said the rescue was not easy, having first to find the men in the darkness then getting above them to lower a team member directly to them.

Other problems involved working on a steep, 250m (800ft) rock crag at night in strong winds and heavy rain showers.

Communication problems and the fact there were three walkers to evacuate added to the difficulties of the rescue.

“Once they were lowered onto Heather Terrace, they were escorted off the mountain to Oggi Base for hot food, hot tea and a warm word of advice,” Mr Lloyd said.

Earlier in the day the team had been put on standby to search for two missing kayaker on the Afon Ogwen, but the men were found before the team could be deployed. One of the paddlers, a 57-year-old man, died after being airlifted to hospital from the river near Penrhyn Castle.