Ben Nevis fall survivor named

A CLIMBER who survived a 1,000ft fall from the UK’s highest mountain in an incident that claimed the life of his companion has been named as David Warden, 46, from Perth.

Mr Warden was said to be in a “serious but stable” condition at the Belford Hospital in Fort William. The climber who died has yet to be named.

The two men had been ice climbing near the 4,470ft summit of Ben Nevis in an area known as Zero Gully when they fell on Sunday morning.

An RAF helicopter and the Lochaber Mountain Rescue team were called to the scene of the tragedy.

A spokesman for Northern Constabulary said: “The surviving casualty, David Warden is described as being in a serious but stable condition.”

The Zero Gully is one of Ben Nevis’s three most popular ice climbs near the summit.