Climber died after slipping on grass

Published 24 Jun 2009 10:00 0 Comments

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THE DEVASTATED boyfriend of a woman killed in a climbing accident says she was 'loved by all who met her'.

Chris Sansum and Weilin Wang, 24, were on holiday in Scotland when she slipped on wet grass and fell 50ft into a gorge minutes after removing her climbing helmet, a Reading inquest heard.

Mr Sansum, who met PhD student Miss Wang three years earlier on a climbing trip, said: 'She was a very bright, intelligent girl, full of life. Climbing was something she loved to do.'

The pair had lived together in Caversham for 18 months and were members of Reading Mountaineering Club. An inquest heard on Tuesday last week that they were descending Fuar Tholl in the northwest Highlands on March 10 last year with guide Toby Keep when Miss Wang slipped on the 45 degree slope and fell, landing 50 feet below in a stream.

Mr Keep"s accident report read: 'I immediately scrambled down to pull her out and turned her onto her back. She was not breathing and I couldn"t find a pulse.'

Mr Sansum, 36, called in a mountain rescue helicopter but Miss Wang was already dead. Pathologist Dr James McPhie from Raigmore Hospital, Inverness, said she had a fractured skull and vertebra. Mr Sansum said: 'As climbers you make your own decision about removing your helmet. I don"t think anyone was to blame.'

Berkshire coroner Peter Bedford said: 'The awful irony in this case is that the tragic fall didn"t occur in a challenging and difficult terrain but only when the climbers had taken their own decision, when below the snowline, to remove their equipment, including helmets.'

Recording a verdict of accidental death he said 'a simple slip' had proved 'very, very tragic'.

After the Reading hearing, Mr Sansum said Miss Wang, who studied biochemistry before doing a genetics PhD at the Medical Research Council in Harwell, 'made a big impression on everyone'.

This article appeared in Reading Chronicle 24 Jun 09

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