The pair got lost on Y Garn. Photo: George Tod CC-BY-SA-2.0

Two walkers were rescued after getting lost in the dark on a Snowdonia mountain.

The couple were unable to tell the mountain rescue team which mountain they were on, but they were located using the Sarloc smartphone system.

Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Organisation was alerted on Tuesday evening when the pair rang for help from Y Garn.

Chris Lloyd of the team said the couple set off up the north-east ridge of Y Garn about 4pm.

He said: “The forecast for the day had been for deteriorating weather. By the time the couple reached the summit, there was low cloud and with fading daylight.

“They descended towards Llyn y Cwn with the intention of finding the path by the Devil’s Kitchen and descending into Cwm Idwal.

“Having failed to find the path, they made their way back up Y Garn. But being poorly equipped for the weather conditions, lack of daylight and not knowing where they were, they decided to telephone for mountain rescue at about 8pm.

“As they didn’t even know the name of the mountain, the team leader used Sarloc to locate the couple. Team members were deployed to the mountain and the assistance of RAF Valley MRT was requested in case of a stretcher carry.”

Mr Lloyd said the team also requested help from Caernarfon Coastguard’s Sikorsky S-92 search and rescue helicopter, but weather conditions proved too poor for night flying as the helicopter tried to enter the valley.

Mr Lloyd said: “The couple were located and brought down to Oggie Base for about 2am. Here, they were advised of their shortfall of equipment and skills.”

• The team has recently benefited from three days of training in latest developments in technical rope rescue with world expert Kirk Mauthner from British Columbia.