Police inquiries are continuing after an elderly man died following a fall in the Snowdonia mountain range.

North Wales Police have found nothing to suggest that the man, who died after walking on Glyder Fawr, above the Ogwen Valley on Saturday, had fallen a long way.

Snowdonia has seen numerous rescues

He was named on Sunday as Dennis Bees, of Menai Bridge.

Mr Bees was walking with two friends on the mountain when he stumbled and fell, hitting his head.

He was airlifted to Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor, but was pronounced dead on arrival.

Police said his next of kin had been contacted, and the coroner had been informed. Tests will be carried out on Monday to determine the cause of death.

Sergeant John Roberts, of North Wales Police, said: "He didn't fall any distance at all and it may well be that the following a post mortem examination it will be found that he died of natural causes.

Artificial respiration

"It was more of a collapse than a fall. It just happened he was on Glyder Fach at the time."

Mr Bees was given artificial respiration at the scene and life-saving attempts continued on the flight to hospital aboard a Sea King helicopter from RAF Valley on Anglesey.

Earlier the same helicopter had been involved in a separate rescue in the area.

The crew winched an ice climber from a rock face on Cwm Silyn, a mountainside in the Nantlle Valley.

Freezing conditions

The man had fallen 60ft and hurt his head and back. He was flown to hospital semi-conscious but his injuries, although serious, were not believed to be life-threatening.

Later, the same helicopter returned to the rock face to rescue the man's companion, who was cragfast in freezing conditions.

He was lifted off and landed unharmed close to a mountain rescue team.

A spokesman at RAF Kinloss, which co-ordinates all military search and rescue helicopters and RAF mountain rescue teams in the UK, said: "People go up in the hills to enjoy themselves and, just as it's getting dark, they decide to go home.

"But their legs get tired and they fall on their way down.

"Fortunately, the helicopter was assisted by favourable weather today."

The Snowdonia mountain range has been the scene of countless rescues in recent years.

Last June, two climbers were air-lifted to hospital after falling 100 feet in the Snowdonia mountain range in north Wales.

Rescue teams were alerted to the incident on Cnicht, near Bedgellert, by a female climber using her mobile phone.

She told rescuers she had seen a climber falling.

The man had been able to get to his feet, but then collapsed again, she said.

In a mission co-ordinated by North Wales Police, members of the local mountain rescue team and a rescue helicopter from RAF Valley were sent to the scene.

The winchman was expecting to find just one casualty, but when he arrived at the scene saw the second injured person.