Travel influencer, 28, fell 60ft to her death in front of her friends on one of Britain's deadliest mountains
Friends of an extreme sports enthusiast who fell 60ft to her death from one of Britain's deadliest mountains watched in horror as she went 'tumbling through the air'.
Influencer Maria Eftimova, 28, who friends said had an 'insatiable thirst for life and exploring our world's beauty', joined a Facebook group who went hiking up a 3,000ft Snowdonia peak, which is located in Wales.
The thrill-seeker was an experienced mountaineer who had recently completed an ice-climbing course in Norway.
But tragically the engineering student lost her footing when her heel slipped while scrambling up Tryfan on February 22.
Neil Oakes, who was among a group of about 18 on the peak when the party split in two, said he had been ahead of Eftimova and turned around to check on his companions.
'I turned around again and saw Maria tumbling through the air below me,' he said in a statement to an inquest into her death on Wednesday.
He added: 'I knew there was going to be an impact. I was shouting "No,no,no!" When I turned back she had hit the ledge below.'
Harry Jones, another witness to the tragedy, said about seven of the group on the peak had been going from ledge to ledge.
Eftimova was ahead of him and slipped as she pulled herself up. He said: 'All I saw was her flying over the top of my head and down the mountainside.'
Jones said he 'froze' then called emergency services. A rescue helicopter and mountain rescuers arrived at the scene but Eftimova died from multiple injuries.
Jed Stone, of Ogwen Valley mountain rescue team, told the hearing she had been scrambling on the north ridge of Tryfan, an area of steep rocky ground and many cliff faces.
Originally from Bulgaria, Eftimova had lived in the UK for ten years.
A heartbroken friend previously posted a video of the group of walkers attempting the 'Mexican wave' on the peak - half an hour before the tragic slip.
Nargesse El Haiba wrote on Facebook in a tribute: 'This will have been roughly 30 minutes before your tragic accident and you taking your last breaths in front of me.
'I have grieved you and cried so much that I can't cry anymore. I will never take the mountains for granted again.'
Eftimova - who was studying at Salford University in Manchester, England - was a keen climber, surfer and snowboarder who had climbed Tryfan several times.
In a statement her father Rosen said: 'We learned about Maria's death from a telephone call from her friends with her at the time of the accident.'
North West Wales senior coroner Kate Robertson told the hearing: 'Very sadly it seems Maria was scrambling with others when she's unintentionally and unexpectedly fallen.
'During the course of that fall, she has sustained the injuries which have sadly led to her death. That fall was entirely accidental.'
She concluded that Eftimova's death had been an accident.
When she opened the inquest, the coroner said Eftimova had been 'trying to reach a ledge to get a grip on the hand-hold and has gone to lift herself up'.
She added: 'Her heel has slipped and she's fallen from the ledge and it appears she's fallen some distance.'
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