A soldier on a mountain training exercise rushed to the aid of an injured woman who slipped on to a rocky precipice.

Lance Corporal Kieran Murphy, 26, a mountain leader with the Joint Services Mountain Training Wing (JSMTW) at Capel Curig, was leading a team of soldiers down the Pyg track on Snowdon when the incident happened.

He heard panicked shouting near to the route he was taking and immediately went to help.

“I was leading a team a students when I heard this distressed calling and I followed the sound,” said the former aviation signaller, who is from Ruthin, North Wales. “There’s a plateau that some people seem to try and navigate but it’s quite dangerous and drops sharply into a bit of a crevasse. There are footsteps leading into it so it looks safer than it actually is.”

“She was terrified”

Kieran anchored a rope to descend further towards the cries for help and found the injured woman lying in snow. “She was terrified, thinking she was going to die,” said Kieran.

“I checked to make sure she wasn’t too badly hurt but she seemed to have suffered some bruising to her ankle, knee and she appeared to have broken some ribs. I think she must have been there for about 90 minutes and it was pretty cold. You could see clearly where she’d fallen from and was left on a cliff edge near ice and rocks.”

Kieran reassured the woman before moving her to an improvised group shelter where it would be easier for mountain rescue teams to get to her.

He added: “We located her husband, who had panicked after she tumbled, and we stayed with them until the Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team arrived. I’m glad we got there.”

Lance Corporal praised

The woman was one of two walkers to fall in that area of Snowdon in the space of two days. And a 31-year-old mountain walker from London was airlifted to hospital just days before, suffering leg injuries after tumbling more than 300 feet.

Major Al Seaton, Officer Commanding JSMTW Capel Curig, said: “LCpl Murphy applied immediate first aid and called for Mountain Rescue. As the woman’s condition started to deteriorate and her temperature started to drop, he moved her away from the ice shelf to a safe area next to his group and put her in an emergency shelter.

“LCpl Murphy passed his senior mountain leader’s course in January and performed exceptionally well when taking into account his relative lack of experience. His decision making, courage and personal skills were severely tested and he passed the test with flying colours. A big well done to him.”

The Llanberis Mountain Rescue team arrived and removed the casualty by stretcher. The couple praised LCpl Murphy for his actions.

Original article written by and sourced from – army.mod.uk