MOUNTAINEERING NEWS ITEM

Misleading Guidebook Leads Hiker to his Death

MONDAY, 22 OCTOBER 2007

Although he followed a recommended route, a walker died by following a misleading guidebook on trekking in Snowdonia.

Christopher Paratt, 32, ended up lost with his wife after following one of the guidebook’s routes up Mount Tryfan in North Wales. After leaving his wife and dog to get help, he fell more than 80 feet and broke his skull.

The inquest at Caernarfon was told that Mr. Paratt and his wife, Jennifer, 29, used the book “Walks in the Snowdonia Mountains” to try to find their way up the 3,000-feet mountain. A chapter in the book was titled “Tryfan the Easy Way”.

However, according to Detective Inspector Gerwyn Lloyd of Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Team, there is no easy way up Tryfan. The title, he says, is extremely misleading.

The Paratt couple, who traveled from Wallingford, Oxfordshire, had followed a recommended route. Despite becoming confused, they still found their way to the summit, which was covered in low cloud. But they used a map for their descent because they had lost confidence in the book.

The guide’s publisher, however, denied that the book suggested that climbing Tryfan was easy. According to Myrddin Dafydd, the book just compared the easy routes and the hard routes.

Meanwhile, mountaineering experts called for the £3.95 book to be withdrawn from sale.

Nicola Jones, deputy coroner for Northwest Wales, recorded a verdict of accidental death.

For more information on this news story, please visit www.timesonline.co.uk.

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