Climbers killed by UK avalanche ‘fell 1,000 feet’

Published January 20, 2013

Associated Press

LONDON –  A mountain rescuer says the four climbers who died in an avalanche in the Scotland Highlands fell around 1,000 feet (300 meters) and ended up buried in thick snow.

The two men and two women were found dead Saturday after the accident at Glencoe, one of Scotland’s best-known glens. A fifth woman in the group, aged 24, has been hospitalized with serious injuries and a sixth man managed to escape using his ice ax.

Andy Nelson from the Glencoe Mountain Rescue team said the group was buried in snow up to 2 meters (6 1/2 feet) deep. He said Sunday the slide would have unfolded “in a split second” and “they would have been traveling at a speed that was impossible to stop.”

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