Climber 'waited for death' as boulder hurtled towards him

A CLIMBER has told how he closed his eyes and waited to die as a huge boulder hurtled towards him on a Scottish mountain.

Mark Stansfield and climbing partner Carole Standing were on a popular climb in the Cuillins range in Skye when he came face to face with the falling rock "the size of a fridge".

He escaped with a crushed right hand and will have a finger amputated, but another climber, mother-of-four Tessa Cousins, 56, from South Africa, was killed.

As Ms Cousins' family paid tribute to her yesterday, Mr Stansfield said it was fortunate others died not die.

The ordeal began when Ms Cousins' climbing partner accidentally dislodged the boulder which triggered a "domino effect" of further falling rocks.

The man suffered a broken leg but Ms Cousins, described as a "fearless explorer and climber", died after being struck.

Mr Stansfield, 52, from Stafford, and Ms Standing, from Bath, were below the other pair, at about 1,800ft on the Cioch Direct climb on Monday.

At Raigmore Hospital in Inverness, Mr Stansfield said: "When I saw a piece of granite the size of a fridge coming towards me I thought 'that's it, I'm gone'. It was pure luck. It was bouncing down and a piece hit me."

Ms Standing was 35 metres above her friend at the time. Mr Stansfield, who was on a ledge, was unsure how badly hurt she or other climbers were, but heard screams for help. "In effect I was tied to that spot. I heard a loud crack and shouts of 'rocks' before I saw it coming. It was that quick. I just closed my eyes and thought 'this is going to hurt'."

His arm was resting on his leg rather than on the ledge and this saved it from being "chopped off" by the falling boulder as it crashed past him, he said.

With the help of another climber he managed to get off the ledge and walked for about 50 minutes back down the mountain to the Glenbrittle campsite after a doctor and paramedic who happened to be in the area looked at his injury.

However he laughed off the "Iron Man" description of him by Gerry Akroyd, leader of the Skye Mountain Rescue Team: "I wasn't in pain, although I was cold, probably from the shock. I just kept walking to stay warm."

A 24-strong rescue team went to the climbers' aid, as well as a coastguard helicopter from Stornoway. Mr Stansfield was initially taken to hospital in Broadford with Ms Standing, who was transferred to the Southern General in Glasgow.

It was only then he realised a climber had died: "I knew people had been hurt, but I was deeply upset to hear (about Ms Cousins' death]. I'm surprised no one else died. I'm surprised I'm here."

Ms Cousins was a rural development worker in Lesotho and Zululand. In the 1990s she worked for the land rights organisation AFRA, in KwaZulu-Natal. She was a fellow of the Kellogg Foundation, which helps vulnerable children, for several years.

In a statement, her family said: "Tessa was a fearless explorer and climber from early childhood and loved the outdoors. She loved the earth and the wilderness and learned to farm as a young woman.

"In recent years she contributed to new thinking on land tenure policy, rural livelihoods and water resource management. In all these capacities she was much valued and loved by many people.

"She lived life to the full, delighting in the mountains and in the sea, sharing these passions with her dearly beloved partner Dirk Versfeld."