I FE ARED HE’D BEEN SMASHED TO PIECES
A DAD who feared his son had been “smashed to pieces” when he plunged more than 300ft down a mountainside says it’s a “miracle” he survived.
Phil Wright was descending snow-covered Tryfan with daughter Ellie and 24-year-old Ben when disaster struck.
Mr Wright and Ellie, 14, watched in horror as Ben slipped before cartwheeling down a slope and disappearing out of sight.
The distraught dad, who believed there was no way his son could have survived, was astonished when he heard Ben calling out.
The 42-year-old teacher said: “We are all experienced climbers and had come within 10 metres of the summit. The weather was bad and we came back down another route.
“We were nearly at the bottom towards a sheer face. Ben lost his grip, dropped down and skidded towards an edge and fell another 20 metres. Then I saw him cartwheeling down the mountainside to the next edge and over it.
“I honestly thought he was dead. His body should have been smashed to pieces. But we heard him calling, and when we managed to get down to him he was standing up. It was a miracle.”
The family’s cries for help led to three people calling the emergency services. A group of 15 RAF Valley mountain rescuers training in the area on Sunday were sent ahead of another 15 from the Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Team.
Ben was stretchered across a boulder field then winched aboard a rescue helicopter, while his dad and sister were escorted safely off the mountain.
Mr Wright added: “I just wanted to say a big thank you to everybody – the four locals who were first on the scene, the mountain rescuers, the pilot and the medical staff – they were all fantastic.”
Ben, a scuba diving instructor, was flown to Ysbyty Gwynedd, Bangor – and walked out 15 hours later with only a broken rib, disjointed collar bones, bumps and bruises. Recovering at the family home in Wigan yesterday, he said: “I didn’t realise I had fallen that far, I was just concentrating on keeping my hands and arms around my head to protect it. When I stopped falling I felt alright.
“I am in a lot of pain, but was extremely lucky and am just so grateful to everybody that helped.”