Climber calls for help

A full-scale search has been launched after a Briton hiking in the French Alps left a desperate mobile phone message saying he was trapped.

Brian Ellis, 53, phoned the hostel where he had been staying and left an answer-phone message in English pleading, "Please help me, I'm stuck," before the line went dead.

Rescuers believe he called after becoming stranded at high altitude as a blizzard closed in on the Massif de Belledonne, in the south-eastern Alps. It was thought that Mr Ellis could be trapped at between 5,000 and 8,000 feet and unable to descend due to hailstorms and winds of up to 80mph.

Weather conditions are still so bad today that mountain patrols have been unable to use the search-andrescue helicopter. Instead, 20 rescuers set off on foot to scour the remote mountain range.

Mr Ellis, from Devon, arrived at the hostel in Chamrousse, near Grenoble, on Monday before setting off for a day's hiking on Tuesday morning. He was following a well known trail through the mountains and had been expected back by evening.