The man was found at the foot of the Cneifion Arête. Photo: John Dyason CC-BY-SA 2.0

The man was found at the foot of the Cneifion Arête. Photo: John Dyason CC-BY-SA 2.0

A man has died after falling from a route in Snowdonia.

The climber was found at the foot of the Cneifion Arête above Cwm Idwal on Saturday.

North Wales Police contacted the Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Organisation team leader about 11.30am to say there was a report of a serious incident at the site on the Glyder Fawr massif.

Chris Lloyd of the team said: “A father and 16-year-old son had been climbing a route on the Idwal Slabs. A solo climber had passed them. They completed their route and scrambled up to Cwm Cneifion and towards the arête.

“They saw on the screes to the left of the arête a brightly coloured rucksack and a person lying precariously a short distance away. The person was motionless and very seriously injured.

“A small party was deployed to the scene. While one team member accompanied the informants and took them to the sanctuary of Oggie Base, the others commenced casualty care.

“A stretcher party arrived shortly afterwards and the Coastguard’s helicopter a few minutes later. The casualty was treated and carried on the stretcher to the helicopter which, despite strong gusting winds, had managed to land nearby.”

The climber was flown to Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor, where attempts to save his life continued, but he was confirmed dead at the hospital.

Mr Lloyd said: “In the meantime, a small party of team members collected evidence from the incident site, carefully recording what was found and where it was found.

“A name was found on some equipment and when this was read out, team members realised that the casualty was a well known and popular local mountaineering professional, known to many of the team members.

“The evidence was carefully logged and handed to a member of North Wales Police who was now at Oggie Base.”

Mr Lloyd said Saturday’s was the fourth fatal incident for Ogwen Valley team members this year, each one an accident when rock-climbing.

He added: “Our thanks go to the father and son who experienced this shocking event. Our thoughts are with the casualty’s family, especially his fiancée.”

Some articles the site thinks might be related:

  1. Walkers, climber, lost challengers, plus stuck sheep, keep Dales team busy
  2. Mountain rescuers recover body from River Tweed after major search
  3. Helicopter rescue for walker in ravine fall
  4. Walking couple rescued from Great Dodd after getting lost in low cloud
  5. Walker rescued after ankle injury