The pair were brought up the spur to safety by rescuers. Photo: Karl Lester/OVMRO

A group of walkers received words of advice on skills and ethics from rescuers after two of them were left cragfast on a Snowdonia scrambling route.

Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Organisation was alerted on Saturday afternoon after the four young men from the West Midlands had set off to make the ascent of a grade-one route on the Carneddau range.

Chris Lloyd of the rescue team said the four men took to the hills on a wet and wintry day, with Storm Eunice departing and strong winds forecast for Sunday. They were attempting the Llech Ddu Spur above Cwm Llafar.

He said: “Soon they found that they lacked experience, suitable clothing and winter equipment for the challenge. By mid-afternoon, the party split into two pairs as one man was panicking and had become cragfast.

“The leading two successfully completed the spur and made their way from the mountain, leaving their ‘friends’ to their own fate. The cragfast two telephoned for mountain rescue though had little knowledge of their whereabouts or even the location of the cars.

“With the circumstances of two very lightly equipped men somewhere on a crag in the heart of the Carneddau, in full winter conditions and with only a couple of hours of daylight, the team leader requested the assistance of the Coastguard Rescue 936 helicopter, based near Caernarfon. The request was granted.

“Due to the weather and the location, the helicopter was unable to rescue the two men. It collected a party of six Ogwen team members from Oggi Base and flew up to a break in the cloud, landing on the ridge above the spur. From here, the heavily equipped rescue party set up rope handlines to halfway down the rocky Llech Ddu Spur to the very cold but very relieved young men.”

Mr Lloyd said the two men were brought up to the waiting helicopter, which flew them and the six team members down to the rescuers’ base in the Ogwen Valley.

“Meanwhile, two team members had driven to the party’s cars, parked in Gerlan above Bethesda and awaited the drivers’ arrival. Upon their arrival by taxi – navigational error – the two were escorted to Oggi Base to be reunited with their friends who were being refuelled with tea and pizzas; and for a debrief from the team leader who advised them of their lack of judgement, equipment, skills and ethics – not to abandon the weakest members of the group.”

The incident ended at 7.30pm, four hours after the initial phone call which prompted what Mr Lloyd described as the ‘quest to find who was where on this stormy winter’s day’.