A rare avalanche warning has been issued for climbers on England's third highest mountain after strong winds created unstable stretches of ice and snow.
With up to half a metre of snow, freezing temperatures and gales, authorities said conditions at Helvellyn in the heart of the Lake District were the worst in 16 years.
The 950-metre peak is considered too dangerous even for experienced walkers, according to the Lake District National Park Authority.
'It is lethal underfoot as edges are literally breaking away,' said Craig Palmer, the authority's fell-top assessor. 'An added danger comes from a cornice of snow which could break off and avalanche at any time.
High winds have whipped up the snow, creating drifts that are only loosely attached to the mountainside.
The UK Met Office said the temperature on Helvellyn was -3.9C, with wind chill bringing it down to -15.9C.
Helvellyn is one of the most-climbed peaks in the Lakes. It inspired the poets William Wordsworth and Walter Scott and has been painted by scores of artists, including John Constable.
Avalanches and killer temperatures
A fifth skier has been killed by an avalanche in the Austrian Alps.
The 51-year-old mountain rescuer, who was skiing off piste, was found buried under two metres of snow near Dornbirn in Vorarlberg province in western Austria.
Avalanches had already claimed the lives of two Austrians and two Germans on Thursday and yesterday because of higher temperatures and wind, which caused masses of snow to move.
Further east, Russian emergency services are struggling to maintain heating infrastructure.
Outdoor temperatures in the village of Artyk had plunged to -54C in recent days.
Work was also progressing on repairing damage that had left 137,000 residents without mains heating in several districts of Krasnoyarsk province, where the temperature was -17C.
In Moscow three people froze to death in the last 24 hours, bringing to 67 the number of people who have died from hypothermia there since 1 November.
And heavy snowfall and temperatures as low as -19C have led to the deaths of five people in Bulgaria and forced authorities to declare a state of emergency in parts of the country.
