Mountaineer fell 900ft in avalanche – and lived

A CLIMBER told yesterday how he narrowly escaped death after being swept 900ft down a Scottish mountain by an avalanche.

Phil Ingle, 43, said he thought he was going to die during his ordeal in Coire an t-Sneachda in the Cairngorms – but suffered only a broken hand and bruises.

The experienced mountaineer and his climbing partner – identified only as Frazer – were helped off the hill by local guides.

Cairngorm Mountain Rescue team said both men were lucky to escape with their lives.

Warning about the avalanche risk on an online climbing forum yesterday, Mr Ingle, who is from Wales but now living in Briançon, France, said: ‘Only a broken hand in the end – shoulder, knee and hip are pretty tender.

‘I got airborne over a couple of cliffs on the way down, probably saved me from being buried. I thought I was going to die all the time and am amazed to have got away from it at all.’

Describing how Tuesday’s incident started, he said that he and his climbing partner had followed a heathery, rocky line down the mountain but eventually found themselves between two depressions loaded with snow.

‘I made an anchor and tied Frazer onto it so he could cross,’ he said.

‘I thought I was to the side and out of danger so didn’t actually tie on myself.

‘Big mistake. When Frazer crossed, the slope went, and something knocked me off my perch and I got swept down.’

Willie Anderson, leader of Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team, said: ‘They were both very lucky. The one lad must have fallen 900 feet.’

He added: ‘They were both walking wounded, but it could have been a lot worse.’

During the winter of 2012-13, eight people died because of avalanches, the highest number of deaths in five seasons of Scottish Avalanche Information Service forecasts.

Yesterday the SAIS said the avalanche risk for the six areas it monitors – Glen Coe, Lochaber, Creag Meagaidh, Northern Cairngorms, Southern Cairngorms and Torridon – is ‘high’.