Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Ex-soldier killed in mountain fall
AWEST-BASED former soldier slipped and fell on Crib Goch on Armistice Day, an inquest heard. William Dennis Onion, 33, lost his footing and fell about 200 metres in Snowdonia on November 11.
Sarah Riley, assistant coroner for North West Wales, opened the Caernarfon inquest into the death of Mr Onion, who was born in Ballymena in County Antrim, Northern Ireland.
She said Mr Onion, a personal trainer and mountain leader, had been in a group of six walkers on Saturday, November 11 who were completing the Crib Goch trail in Eryri (Mount Snowdon).
During the walk Mr Onion lost his footing, causing the rocks beneath his feet to give way.
He then fell 200 metres down the mountain. A mountain rescue team was alerted and the Helimed helicopter was deployed.
Paramedic Daniel Evans confirmed that at 11.20am that day that Mr Onion, of Parkwood Road, Bournemouth, had died.
Pathologist Dr Mark Atkinson gave the provisional cause of death as multiple injuries.
Ms Riley adjourned the inquest to a future date pending the completion of further investigations.
In a GoFundMe appeal to support his family his father Alastair said his son had a “real lust for life” and a “bright personality”.
He said: “I have no words to convey how devastated we are. William fell today from Snowdon mountain. He was doing what he loved, he was with friends – that much we are thankful for.
“He passed at 11am on the eleventh day of the eleventh month, a soldier through and through, a son that no man could have been prouder of. He was happy, loved and someone that whomever met him, thought the world of him.
“William, we will miss you always.”
The GoFundMe page is at https://www.