Four helped to Snowdonia rescue

A woman and three teenagers have been saved from a treacherous gully on a 3,000ft peak in Snowdonia in a dramatic six-hour rescue operation.

Three attempts by an RAF rescue helicopter from Valley in Anglesey to reach the four stranded on Tryfan were thwarted on Wednesday afternoon.

On the third attempt. the helicopter winchman got within 20ft when the aircraft was forced to pull out.

The woman and youngsters, 13, 14, and 16, are from Stroud, Gloucestershire.

A boy had been clinging on to rocks after they became crag-fast in wet weather.

The children were escorted off the peak after they reached by Ogwen Valley mountain rescue team.

The woman, the mother of two of the children, was accompanied down Tryfan until she could be winched aboard the rescue helicopter and be flown off the mountain.

A mountain rescue team spokesman said :"They had scrambled up the North Ridge in deteriorating weather and heavy cloud, became disorientated, and made the mistake of escaping down the west face. The weather was very poor.

"It could have turned out much more serious. It was lucky they stayed put. The west side is a treacherous place. It's a place to avoid," the spokesman added.