A CLIMBER crawled up a mountain on his hands and knees for two hours after a boulder broke his ankle.
The 3ft rock came loose as the man in his 60s scrambled up a remote slope with a pal.
It fell on the veteran climber who was put in a splint and given painkillers.
But he was forced to continue his agonising crawl to reach a rope lowered by rescuers from the peak of Glyder Fach in Snowdonia, North Wales.
The team said their 14-hour mission was one of the longest of the year.
Chris Lloyd, of Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue, said: “He managed to hobble on his hands and knees for 200 metres.”
The team’s website said: “A call for a suspected broken ankle from a pair of scramblers saw the team deploy for 14 hours.
“Four members out for the day on Tryfan went to locate the casualties while a callout started.
“The Coastguard helicopter was requested but low cloud and a higher priority job meant they were unable to help.
“A rope rescue was set up to raise the casualty to easier ground.
“The casualty was placed in a stretcher for a carry-off down.”