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Snowdon claimed four lives during freezing conditions in February

Accidental death verdicts have been recorded on two walkers who died on Snowdon.

Gwyn Norrel, 27, and 70-year-old Brian Middleton were among four people killed on the mountain in February.

The Caernarfon inquest heard that Mr Norrel, from Shropshire, had no crampons or ice axe when he fell more than 600ft (183m).

Mr Middleton, from West Yorkshire, was well equipped, but may have slipped while reading a map, said the coroner.

The body of Mr Norrell, a factory worker who lived at Snailneach near Shrewsbury, was found by an RAF rescue crew called out to help two other walkers who had fallen at Clogwyn Coch.

The area where Mr Norrell fell has been referred to by some mountain experts as the "Killer Convex", where the snow becomes a sheet of ice close to the cliff edges.

A mountain rescuer told the coroner it would have been "madness" to go up the peak without the right equipment for the freezing conditions.

Coroner Nicola Jones said: "He fell down a sheet of ice. Had he an ice axe and crampons he may have been able to arrest his fall."

Four days after that death, the body of Mr Middleton, from Halifax, was discovered in a gully at Cwm Clogwyn.

The coroner said he was equipped properly, however, he appeared to have become lost.

She said the company managing director appeared to have put down his ice axe to check his map and compass, and the most likely scenario was that he overbalanced or slipped.