Johnathan Atwell, from the Oldland Common area of Bristol, died of multiple injuries after falling down a gully on the 3,560ft north Wales peak.

He was with a party of 12 scouts from the 19th Kingswood Scout Troop in Bristol.

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After opening and adjourning the inquest, Eryri Coroner Dewi Pritchard Jones said he would now await an investigation into how Johnathan became detached from his party as they came down the Watkin Pass from the summit.

Roger Starr, Scout County Commissioner for Avon, said the death of the scout was being treated as a tragic but isolated incident.

"There are no plans to suspend activities up to Snowdon. It looks like it was a very unfortunate accident."

The scouts are being met by their parents

The youngster was coming down the peak after climbing to the top with the party of 12 scouts and three qualified leaders when the accident happened.

Mr Starr said: "I understand that they were descending the mountain from the top in twos when one of the people in the two noticed that the other guy was not there.

"The scout leader went to the top of the mountain and told the national park warden who happened to be there and they had a helicopter searching the area within minutes."

John Fogg of the Scout Association: The group had been in the area before

The boy was quickly found about 2,500ft up the mountain with the help of a Sea King rescue helicopter, based at RAF Valley, on Anglesey, which was on a training exercise in the area.

The scouts were all aged between 10 and 15. It is not yet known how many previous trips they had been on, but Mr Starr said the scout leader was experienced.

He said: "They were going up through the mountain along the Watkin Path, something which that leader had done many times before. He was there last year."

There were hundreds of other people on the path and it was a "glorious" day, he added.

The association has begun an investigation and the results will be analysed by the movement's mountaineering expert, who is based on the north Wales island of Anglesey.

Walkers descend Snowdon

"We do have quite strict rules governing everything from potholing, climbing, canoeing to caving," a spokesman said.

"Clearly we would like to assure parents - and I think they will know from the experience of the activities their youngsters do under leadership of people in the scouting movement - that we have our rules and procedures.

"At the end of the day, sometimes there is just a tragic accident - maybe as simple as someone losing their footing. We will have to see."

Nick Morgan, chairman of governors at Johnathan's school, said pupils had been trying to come to terms with their shock.

Clive Bracewell from the Scout Association: "They became aware one member of the group was not with them"

"They are coping very well. The teacher has encouraged them to talk about their feelings in class this morning."

Snowdonia Park senior warden Sam Roberts criticised the way the Scouts took the narrow and steep East Ridge route from the summit,to link with the Watkin Path.

He said he would not have taken a boy so young along that ridge.

"At one point on this route, however many people were with the group, there was a young lad of 10 or 10 and a half who was unsupervised. He was lost. He was missing from the rest of the group.

"What happened to him we will probably never know, but certainly he is not with us today and that is a great tragedy," he said.

The Watkin Path, which rises from the A498 Beddgelert road, is one of the most popular routes to the summit of Snowdon, passing the impressive Hafod-y-Llan falls.