
Tragedy on the Welsh mountains as man, 36, plunges to his death from knife-edge ridge
The walker, 36, fell off Crib Goch, a notoriously dangerous Mount Snowdon precipice on the approach to Yr Wyddfa, on Saturday morning.
North Wales Police and the Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team rushed to the location by helicopter but pronounced the man dead at the scene.
A spokesperson for the force said: 'We are saddened to confirm that a 36-year-old man has died following a fall from Crib Goch in Eryri National Park on Saturday, 16 August.
'Emergency services, including North Wales Police and the Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team, responded to reports of a man falling from the ridge at approximately 11:30am.
'The man was recovered from the mountain by helicopter but was sadly pronounced deceased at the scene.
'Formal identification has not yet taken place, but the man's next of kin have been informed, and the coroner has been notified.'
Inspector Jamie Owens added: 'My deepest condolences remain with the man's family at this incredibly difficult time. Our investigation into the circumstances of this tragic incident is ongoing.'
It comes after a man with a broken wrist spent an hour trying in vain to save his hospital doctor friend after she fell 30ft from a spot nearby.
Dr Charlotte Crook, 31, and her colleague Adam Weatherhogg had been walking in Snowdonia on February 16 when Ms Crook slipped and plunged off a grassy ledge.
Senior coroner John Gittins praised the 'amazing efforts' that Mr Weatherhogg made as he carried out chest compressions in a bid to help Dr Crook, of Perry Barr, Birmingham.
Her parents described the hills and mountains as their only child's 'happy place'. She had a 'passion for exploration of the great outdoors'.
Dr Crook was an experienced walker but died from a head injury last February on Glyder Fach.
The Ruthin hearing was told that she had been descending when she slipped.
The tragedy was a 'conspiracy of all matters at that time, weather, route and loss of footing'.
The coroner recorded a conclusion of accidental death.
It comes after a man with a broken wrist spent an hour trying in vain to save Dr Charlotte Crook, pictured, his hospital doctor friend, after she fell 30ft from a spot nearby
In June, friends of an extreme sports enthusiast who tragically fell 60ft to her death from one of a 3,000ft Snowdonia peak revealed they 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.
The thrill-seeker - who had more than 10,000 followers on social media - was an experienced climber 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 Ms 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 the inquest.
'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.'
North West Wales senior coroner Kate Robertson told the hearing in Caernarfon: '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 Ms Eftimova's death had been an accident.
In October, a banker who fell to his death while hiking in Snowdonia told friends he 'could do with some help' as he struggled to descend the 300 foot Tryfan peak.
Banker Sam Caley, 49, shouted to his friends: 'I don't know how I got here. I don't know if I can find my way back' after he had separated from his group to find a different route down the mountain.
At the inquest in Ruthin the assistant coroner for North Wales East and Central Kate Robertson read a statement from one of his friends, Tony Clarke, in which he described the problems they faced while descending the peak.
The four friends arrived in North Wales on June 7, intending to stay two nights, and that afternoon set off up Tryfan, one of the most recognisable peaks in Snowdonia.
One of them turned back because he found it too physically demanding, but the other three made it to the summit, where they rested.
Mr Caley, a 49-year-old from Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire and a programme director at Deutsche Bank, was an experienced hiker, but while Clarke and the third member of the group, Adriaan Commander headed down the path towards the Heather Terrace he followed a parallel path.
In his statement Clarke said he shouted at Caley to come back to them but he may not have heard.
'We told him to retrace his steps but he was reluctant,' he said.
The two lost sight of him but heard him say: 'I could do with some help here guys.'
Clarke described how he then saw his friend falling and he tried to see where he had landed.
An off-duty paramedic who was a qualified mountain guide went to their assistance and the Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Team was called out.
'Adriaan and I were in shock,' said Clarke.
Caley was declared dead at the scene, having suffered head injuries. The coroner recorded a conclusion of accidental death.
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