An experienced mountaineer who was not using ropes died following a fall in Snowdonia. Thomas Furey, 30, of Bwlchgwyn, Wrexham, was found at the foot of Cneifion Arete in the Ogwen Valley area with "catastrophic" head, chest and leg injuries.
He died at Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor on June 11 after being flown in, an inquest in Caernarfon heard. The Daily Post reports that Mr Furey, who was known as Tom, had been staying at a friend's house with his fiancée Katie Simmons, who was due to meet him after she finished work at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd that afternoon.
Witnesses Andrew Cruse and his son Harry had been climbing and said that, on the way up Cneifion Arete a man (Mr Furey) came from behind them and asked if he could go in front. After agreeing, Mr Cruse told the man, who was said to have no ropes: "I wouldn't want to free solo."
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However, Mr Cruse said that the man responded: "It's OK. I do this for a living." Later that morning, Mr Cruse and his son found Mr Furey laying face down and badly injured at the foot of Cneifion Arete, the inquest heard. A bloodied helmet and rucksack were said to be 10 or 15 metres up the slope.
The pair alerted Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Team, who arrived an hour and 20 minutes later. At around 1.30pm, they found that Mr Furey had a weak pulse and called out the coastguard helicopter. Mr Furey was then flown to Ysbyty Gwynedd, where medics tried to save him, however, he was pronounced dead at 2.27pm the same day.
A post mortem examination carried out by Dr Mark Atkinson, a histopathologist, found that Mr Furey died from multiple injuries. Assistant Coroner for North West Wales, Sarah Riley, concluded that Mr Furey had died from a deliberate human act with unintended consequences and concluded that his death was due to misadventure. Ms Riley found it was "more likely than not" that Mr Furey had been wearing a helmet at the time of his fall but that he had not been wearing ropes.
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