Published at 16:31, Monday, 01 March 2010

A Cumbrian climber has died in Scotland after being swept away by an avalanche.

Christopher Walker, a 29-year-old mountain instructor from the Keswick area and Robert Pritchard, 37, from New Malden in Surrey, were both killed in the incident last week, said the Northern Constabulary.

The bodies of two men were recovered by a mountain rescue team from the Buchaille Etive Mor area of Glencoe last Wednesday. They were formally identified today.

The men, part of a group of three, fell 1,500ft after the avalanche swept them off their feet. They were above a large face of the mountain when they were hit by the avalanche and fell to their deaths.

Two other climbers rescued the third member of the group, leading him further down the mountain.

There, they discovered avalanche debris and a man’s hand sticking out of the snow. The group then contacted a mountain rescue team, who found the survivors with the aid of a GPS device.

Last year, award-winning painter Eamonn Murphy, 61, from Carrickfergus, Co Antrim, his brother John, 63, from Portrush, Co Antrim, and Brian Murray, 46, from Monifieth in Tayside, Scotland, all died in an avalanche on Buchaille Etive Mor.

Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk