The 70-year-old fell through a 20 metre crack in the ice while on a solo climb up Schrankogel, a mountain in the Stubai Alps in Tyrol, on Tuesday.

Passing climbers heard screams and shouts for help from inside crevasse and alerted authorities to the trapped man.

He lay on the mountain-side, wearing a waterproof jacket and some form of scarf tied around his head.

The team of seven rescuers checked the climber at the scene for injury. The pensioner was then airlifted to Innsbruck hospital suffering from hypothermia and exhaustion following his ordeal.

He had set off six days ago and was walking to the Amberger Hütte when the accident occurred at around 3000 metres above sea level,  the Austrian Independent reported.

Franz Santer, from the mountain rescue team in Gries im Sellrain who coordinated the rescue, said: ‘The rescue went well. We got the man out of the crevasse with a rope pulley.

He added that the climber had been resting on a ledge following the fall. The man, who had been climbing solo, is thought to have stood on snow covering a crevasse which then gave way below him.

Mr Santer added: ‘Other climbers heard screams and shouts for help. 'They alarmed rescuers. 'It is a wonder he survived so long.’

The Schrankogel mountain is the second highest mountain in the Stubai Alps, peaking at 3497 metres.