The well equipped pair were tackling Tryfan's North Ridge

Two men were rescued from a Snowdonia mountain after one of them aggravated an existing injury and they were forced to retreat from their scramble.

They then took a wrong turn on their descent of Tryfan and called for help.

The pair, in their late 30s and early 40s tackled the North Ridge of the 918m (3,010ft) mountain yesterday, Sunday.

The walkers, from Cheshire and described as well equipped by rescuers, got into difficulties in Notch Gully on the West Face of the mountain.

Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Organisation was called out to help the pair at 1pm and 17 members of the volunteer rescue team were involved in the rescue of the men.

Chris Lloyd of the team said: “They had made good progress but unfortunately one of the men aggravated an old shoulder strain while pulling up on one of the scrambles.

“Although nearly at the summit, they decided that they should escape from the mountain.

“Unfortunately, they chose Notch Gully, a popular mistaken route. They descended until they could descend no further.

“Due to the painful soft tissue injury to the shoulder, they felt that they could not scramble back up the gully to the North Ridge.”

Mr Lloyd said it was overcast, mild and calm, but rocks on the route were greasy.

“A hasty party of three team members traversed in along the West Face to locate the two,” he said. “After pain relief was administered, the two were escorted along a safety rope to safer ground.

“They then walked off the mountain with team members. Although darkness was upon us, the weather didn’t break until we were nearly off the mountain.

“The two men enjoyed hot tea and hot soup in Oggi Base before being returned to their car for the drive back to South Cheshire.”

The team was involved in two further alerts on Tryfan the same day.