Snowdon horror as walker dies in 800ft plunge from cliff

A climber died after he plunged more than 800ft from a cliff on Mount Snowdon.

Two people saw a male walker fall from the Snowdon Railway track and the Llanberis Mountain Rescue team were called to the notorious cliffs of Clogwyn Coch just after 12.30pm on Saturday.

It is believed that the walker slipped on ice and snow and he was pronounced dead at the scene just 15 minutes after his fall.

Eight mountain rescue volunteers were airlifted by the Coastguard Rescue 936 helicopter to Clogwyn station, which is about three quarters of the way up to the summit of Snowdon, to help find the man.

Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team said: ‘The team received two separate calls from North Wales Police within 10 minutes. The first call was a report of someone having seen a person falling some distance from a railway track, and the second a report of a male having fallen down a steep cliff around 300 meters down from the summit near the train track, and now missing.

 ‘A team coordinator was able to quickly connect both of the informants from each of the incidents and established that both of the incidents were linked, and that a male had slipped on ice and snow and fallen from the railway track in to Clogwyn Coch some 250m.’ 

They added: ‘Within 15 minutes of the male falling one of our team doctors was on scene and could confirm that the male was deceased. Due to the seriousness of the incident the team requested the assitance of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency rescue helicopter.

‘Eight team members were airlifted up to Clogwyn station and made their way up to the team doctor and casualty. Once on scene the casualty was secured and lowered down the Llanberis path to a point where the helicopter was able to return and recover the casualty to hospital.

 ‘The team would like to offer our condolences to the family and friends of the deceased.’ 

Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team have previously warned walkers not to follow the railway tracks when leaving the summit because they run perilously close to steep crags.

Snow and ice can make it a dangerous route during the winter and the spot has claimed the lives of several walkers in the past including brothers James and Christopher McCallion who fell almost 1,000ft to their death in 2009.