Fundraisers from a rugby club in Kent have been rescued from Cader Idris.

Aberdyfi Search and Rescue received a call to help the group at 11.20pm on Saturday night.

A man and five women - players and coaches from a rugby club in the south-east of England – were attempting the Welsh Three Peaks challenge.

They left Kent on Friday evening, climbing Snowdon at 5am on Saturday morning and Cader Idris at 2.30pm.

Having reached the summit, a combination of poor weather, encroaching darkness and navigational errors took the group away from the intended route and on to the steep crags above Cwm Cau. While some of the group tried to find a way down, others called for assistance.

Using smart-phone technology, call-handlers were able to pinpoint their location amongst the crags and the group was directed to retrace their steps up the steep ground to the plateau above, then move to intercept a fence line which would mark the safer way down from Mynydd Moel.

A small party of team volunteers was dispatched up the hill to provide extra lighting and assistance as the group made their way off the mountain.

Tired after around 20 hours on the go, the walkers were otherwise unharmed and everyone was safely off the hill by 2.30am.

Rescue team spokesman, Graham O’Hanlon said: "Charity challenges such as the Welsh Three Peaks can be great when things go well.

"However, established challenges can create the impression that they are somehow safer or need less preparation than a normal day on the mountains, and can encourage the participation of people without much or any hillwalking experience or skills.

“The pressure of organising activities can lead to groups taking to the hills in unsuitable weather conditions, and the time pressures and fatigue of challenges like the Three Peaks can encourage groups to work in the dark and to press on into a worse situation rather than retrace the route back to the last good position, particularly if this means going back uphill.

"Charities such as our rescue team depend entirely on donations, and so depend heavily on the work of fundraisers such as these walkers.

"However, we would ask would-be fundraiser looking at challenges like this to consider whether collecting money for one charity whilst placing a burden of time and resources on another is actually fundraising at all."