Climber survived horror fall from Scottish mountain tied to friend who died

Patrick Boothroyd who died in Ben Nevis fall.

Leon Grabowski had been attempting to cut a hole in an overhanging cornice while scaling Ben Nevis on Sunday December 16 last year when it collapsed, causing an avalanche.

He had been tied to Patrick Boothroyd, 21, and the pair were swept 400m down the 1,345m mountain, falling on snow, ice and rocks.

A huge rescue operation was launched before a coastguard helicopter reached stricken Patrick in the Tower Gully section of the peak.

Geology student Patrick was winched into the helicopter before he suffered a cardiac arrest en route to Belford Hospital in Fort William.

Doctors battled to save Patrick, who was in his final year at Cardiff University, but he tragically passed away from his injuries in hospital, an inquest heard.

A post-mortem found Patrick died as a result of multiple injuries following a fall while mountaineering.

Miraculously, Leon, who was 28 at the time of the accident, survived with only minor injuries, including bruising to his chest and was later discharged from hospital.

He was left 'stunned and extremely shaken up' by the horror accident and in a read statement Leon said: "Since the incident, I have thought about what I could have done differently and I wish we had not done the climb that day."

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When asked why he had been trying to make a hole in the cornice, Leon said: "It's the first time I had tried to do it. I knew it was a legitimate technique."

An inquest at Bradford Coroner's Court heard Patrick was vice-president of Cardiff University Mountaineering Club and had climbed in several countries around the world.

In a written statement, his devastated father, Nigel Boothroyd, who has two other children, said: "He [Patrick] was very driven, he never wanted to waste a moment of his life.

"He worked hard and he played hard."

Patrick, a vegan, had suffered a fall in Wales earlier in the year when he was caught by a rope and spent five days in hospital with fractured ribs and a punctured lung.

He helped organise the seven-day trip to the Highlands after advertising it on social media and recruited a group of eight.

Patrick and Leon decided to climb the Tower Gully section of the peak which is described as Grade One despite icy conditions.

They were dropped off at the north face car park before going to the CIC hut, and then walked around an hour to the base of the climb, an inquest heard.

Assistant coroner, Oliver Longstaff recorded a verdict of recorded a conclusion of accidental death.

He said: "There is nothing in the evidence that would entitle me to conclude anything other than Patrick and his friend Leon, who had undertaken this climb, were prudent and conscientious climbers.

"Experienced climbers by definition careful climbers and these were a pair of experienced climbers.

"The disaster that befell them as far as I can make out is not one that could have been foreseen.

"Sadly it did occur given the hostile environment in which they were in. Some adverse outcome was inevitable, for Patrick it was a disaster.

"The appropriate formal conclusion to the inquest is simply, this was an accidental death. It's a very bland term for such a tragedy.

"This was a young man doing what he loved doing, and which he had done with considerable success and great enjoyment for many, many years.

"I do not believe there was anything caress about the way the climb was undertaken. It was simply an accident of a type which this particular past-time is susceptible.

"That it should occur on this day and with this outcome is a disaster for Patrick's family. With everything said and done, this was nothing more than a tragic accident.

"He was a young man with everything to live for and everything going for him."