An inquest has heard that North Wales Police failed to alert mountain rescuers for three hours after an abandoned 999 call was made from the phone of Jayden Long, 19, hours before he and his friend Eddie Hill, 20, were found dead on Snowdon. The father of one victim accused officers of "incompetence", and the assistant coroner said she was "concerned about the lack of action" taken by the force, adding that she will now write a prevention of future deaths report. The case raises serious questions about emergency call-handling procedures in situations involving hikers in hazardous winter conditions.

The two experienced hikers, from Norfolk, had set off to climb Snowdon on 18 February equipped only with boot spikes rather than full crampons or ice axes, despite "full winter conditions" on the mountain. A 999 call was made from Mr Long's phone at 4.30pm but contact was lost, and police did not alert the Llanberis mountain rescue team until three hours later, with a full search only launched at 11.30pm. The pair's bodies were found the following morning at a 3,500ft ridge, less than a mile from the summit, having suffered multiple traumatic injuries; police investigators accepted there had been an "insufficient response" in the first hour, though they concluded the delay had not contributed to the deaths, a finding challenged by Mr Long's father. The coroner recorded a conclusion of accident for both men.