Llanberis mountain rescuers and an emergency helicopter battled 100 mph winds, snow and freezing conditions to rescue a young woman from Snowdon mountain.

The chairman of the Llanberis Mountain Rescue team Alun Allcock has described how rescuers were "picked up and thrown" by the gusting winds during the dramatic rescue.

He has also praised the Caernarfon-based HM Coastguard helicopter Rescue 936 helicopter pilots for their flying skills amid "sub-optimal" conditions.

The Llanberis team received a call from North Wales Police reporting a young female with a suspected broken leg was in an area at the top of the Gabions on the PYG track, at 4.26pm, on Monday, March 11.

North Wales Chronicle:

Mountain rescuers en-route to helping injured woman. Pictures: Llanberis Mountain Rescue team

An initial hill party, equipped with a stretcher, medical kit and ropes was airlifted to Clogwyn Station by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency helicopter Rescue 936.

Then the helicopter returned to Nant Peris to airlift a second group of four team rescuers on to the mountain.

As a third team, of three from the Aberglaslyn Mountain Rescue Team were being lifted, the helicopter developed a mechanical fault and had to return to base at Dinas Dinlle.

Mr Allcock said "The flying conditions that night in the strengthening winds could definitely be described as "sub-optimal"

"Our team has nothing but admiration for the flying skills of our colleagues onboard Rescue 936 who assisted by getting people as high on the mountain with their heavy kit and helping us get to the casualty quickly "With wind speeds gusting to over 100mph on the railway line, there were several occasions when team members were literally picked up and thrown several metres by the wind."

To get to the casualty, a woman from the Manchester area, the team had a long walk up the Snowdon Mountain railway line, against the wind.

North Wales Chronicle:

She was located on the opposite side of Bwlch Glas, at the top of an area known as the Zig-Zags.

Mr Allcock said: "She was being kept company by a couple of passing Good Samaritans who stayed with her, despite the worsening conditions.

"They had waited for nearly two hours until we arrived. The casualty was given some initial pain relief, and placed in a bothy bag for shelter with a blizzard protection systems vest and heat pads to rewarm her, until we had enough people to place her in our stretcher and carry her back up to the Finger Stone at Bwlch Glas."

Meanwhile a call had gone out for assistance to the Aberglaslyn Mountain Rescue Team and also to the Royal Air Force Mountain Rescue Service who provided support and helped carrying the stretcher back down the train line to be transported to hospital.

North Wales Chronicle:

Mr Allcock added: "It's a testament to the dedication of volunteers who are prepared to go to the aid of a fellow hillwalker on nights like these.

"All troops were safely off the hill and returned to our base in Nant Peris by 10pm for a well-deserved brew and cake to refuel - and then, of course, there was a lot of wet kit to sort before the incident was closed shortly before midnight."

He added: "Our base looked like the dressing room after a title fight with several battered and bruised but still smiling team members".