A climber has told of his miracle escape from a freezing mountain – on the same day a fellow hiker fell to his death.
Experienced mountaineer Matthew Medway-Gash, from Brighton, attempted to scale treacherous Ben Nevis on Sunday, February 19.
On the morning of the attempt Matthew had chatted with two fellow hikers about the day’s weather forecast.
“We were all agreed that conditions were perfect. It was around –22C but the mountain was beautiful and the skies were blue,” he said.
“The two blokes were really friendly and we couldn’t see any reason why we wouldn’t be able to get to the top, even though it was covered in snow.”
In September the 38-year-old father-of-two had successfully reached the summit with a climbing partner to raise money for Cancer Research.
“I set off on my own and was feeling pretty good,” he said.
“But at about 1,500ft my legs started cramping and feeling really heavy.
“A French team caught me up and passed me and I started to feel quite ill.”
Serious problems
Despite struggling, Mr Medway-Gash decided to push on and try and reach the summit – but at 3000ft he realised something was seriously wrong.
“I was vomiting everywhere and I was very weak,” he said.
To his horror Mr Medway-Gash realised he was at the exact spot where 22-year-old French climber Arnaud Alexandre Romain Albagnac had died of hypothermia in June last year.
“My legs just wouldn’t work and I was just lying in the snow. At that point I fully believed I was going to die.
“I was sure I was going to freeze to death and I was just praying someone would see me.”
In his desperation Mr Medway-Gash took one last picture for his family to remember him by.
But somehow he summoned the strength to begin stumbling and crawling back down the mountain towards safety.
Rescue helicopter
“I don’t really remember much about it. All I remember thinking is that I really didn’t want to die up there on the mountain,” he said.
About halfway down Mr Medway-Gash saw a rescue helicopter flying up towards the summit. “I was sure it must be for me but it flew past.”
After dragging himself through the snow for hours, he finally made it back to the warmth of the climbing centre.
It was only when he woke up after several hours’ rest that he found out the rescue helicopter had been scrambled to pick up the two climbers he had spoken to that morning.
Paul Guest, 32, and friend David Warden, 46, had fallen 1,000ft while roped together near the summit.
Mr Guest was pronounced dead at the scene while Mr Warden was airlifted to hospital with serious injuries.
“I just couldn’t believe it,” said Mr Medway-Gash. “They seemed like really nice guys so I would just like to extend my condolences to their families. I’m just so thankful that I managed to get off the mountain alive.”
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