A RADCLIFFE hill walker was taken to hospital semi-conscious and suffering from hypothermia after being caught in a blizzard.

Donna Ward, aged 30, was with a party of friends on Great Hill on the Bolton moors when Sunday's snowstorm struck.

The alarm was raised when she and three friends from Great Lever failed to return to their car by 4pm.

All 28 members of the Bolton Mountain Rescue Team were called out, along with the Bowland Pennine team from Preston. Lancashire police's helicopter was put on stand-by.

But as they prepared to search the moors at 6pm Bolton team members Paul and Yolande Baxendale, who were patrolling the moorland roads in a Land Rover, found the walkers.

Donna Ward was semi-conscious and was being carried by her friends.

She was taken to the Royal Bolton Hospital in a mountain rescue team ambulance suffering from hypothermia but was allowed home after treatment. Her friends were taken to Belmont police station to get warm.

"They were extremely lucky," said Bolton team leader Garry Rhodes.

"It would have been very problematic searching the moors in those conditions."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.