Sara Albone reportedly became lost and started to suffer hypothermia after being caught in wintry weather while wearing just running gear

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

A woman was rescued from Britain’s highest mountain after attempting an ascent while wearing summer clothes and carrying just a selfie stick, according to reports.



Police name climber who died after fall in Scottish Highlands Read more

Sara Albone, 28, became disoriented and began to develop hypothermia after being caught in blizzard conditions while wearing shorts and trainers on Ben Nevis, it is understood.

She was found by chance while lost on the north face of the 4,400ft peak, in Scotland’s Grampian mountains, where several climbers have been killed in recent months.

Albone, from Brighton, issued an apology and thanked the team that had to walk her off the mountain when cloud and driving rain made her unreachable by helicopter, the Daily Mail reported.

Lochaber mountain rescue team leader John Stevenson said it was ridiculous to attempt to climb the mountain, where the summit remains in “full-blown winter”, without the right equipment or support. “Being irresponsible means others have to go out of their way to help,” he said.

Writing on a mountaineering forum, Albone praised her rescuers for being “incredibly brave and kind”, adding: “I think if it had not been for these guys I could have died.”

According to reports Albone decided to scale the mountain on the spur of the moment while part-way through a mountain biking tour of Scotland.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Ben Nevis from Stronem Inverlochy. Photograph: Dennis Barnes/Getty Images

However the keen cross-country runner only had the gear for her bike trip, and not the ice pick, poles and emergency shelter it is advised climbers take with them up the snow-capped mountain.

She wrote: “[I had] just the stuff I had packed for the weekend and a stupid selfie stick. I kind of knew I was underprepared, and didn’t actually intend on getting to the top. I just sort of thought, ‘oh I’ve got this far – it’s not too bad – let’s carry on’.”

Albone said she intended to take a mountaineering course when she got home to East Sussex.

Louis Lander-Deacon, one of the climbers who found Albone, described conditions on the mountain as “absolutely terrible”. “I am sure that if she had not bumped into us she might have died,” he added.

The bodies of Rachel Slater, 24 and Tim Newton, 27, from Bradford, West Yorkshire, were discovered on Ben Nevis on 23 March. They were reported missing on 15 February after failing to return from a climb.

On Friday Peter Nielsen, 32, an experienced climber from Tranent, East Lothian, died after falling on the Aladdin’s Buttress area of the Cairngorms.