People planning to climb Snowdon are being urged to dress appropriately after a teenager developed hypothermia after hiking up the mountain in just his underwear.
An ambulance crew were called after 19-year-old Nathan French from Halewood in Merseyside completed the 1,085m climb of the highest mountain in Wales, but became unwell at the summit.
French, who was dressed only in Superman underwear for the climb, was raising money for the Dementia UK charity in honor of his grandmother, who has the condition.
Emergency services were called to treat the student after became unwell while taking the train back down from the summit.
Paramedics discovered his blood sugar and blood pressure had dropped and he was beginning to suffer from hypothermia.
Miles Hill of Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team said the outcome could have been much worse.
“While we are sympathetic to his charity fundraising for a very worthy cause, we would question the planning and perseverance which went into his day on the hill,” Hill said.
Hill said that, even at the height of summer, the summit of Snowdon could be 10°C colder than Llanberis, the village at its base, even before any adverse weather is factored in.
A 10-point checklist for how to avoid the need to be rescued has been put together by the rescue team on its Web site, which Hill said he encouraged anyone considering the climb to read.
“Anybody walking in the mountains should always carry enough equipment, clothing and food to be self-sufficient for the duration of their trip, including adverse changes in weather,” he said.
“Even with temperatures in the teens, with minimal clothing Mr French would have been highly susceptible to wind chill,” he said.
“If the train hadn’t been running from the summit, the outcome could have been very different. While charity events in your kecks are commendable, it’s not a trend we want to see started,” he said.
Hill said Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team is also a charity.
“As a rescue team, we are sometimes called to individuals and groups taking part in charity events who haven’t realized that we ourselves are a charity, and our volunteers have left their loved ones at home in order to help,” he said.
“We hope Mr French is back in the mountains soon, perhaps in the full suit [cape optional], rather than just the underwear,” he said.
French, who is studying sport, nutrition and health at university, said: “I climbed the mountain successfully and it was when I was at the top I was shaking uncontrollably.”
“Four lovely ladies” gave him tickets for the Snowdon mountain railway to get back down, but it was when he was on the train that he started to feel sick, he said.
“I started to go deaf and my sight started to go funny. It was at this point my dad decided to ring for help,” he said.
A paramedic met them at the bottom and said the student’s blood sugar had dropped and he was showing the early signs of hypothermia.
French said he has received negative comments on social media since his misadventure on Sept. 9, which he said was unfair because he was not rescued, but made it down the mountain without help.
“I was with the paramedic for no longer than 20 minutes. He said I wasn’t wasting his time at all and he actually saw the humor in it. So I haven’t cost any money to the emergency services at all,” French said.
More than ￡1,300 (US$1,752.6) has been donated to French’s JustGiving page since his climb.
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