Scout group not blamed for death

The freak rockfall in Snowdonia claimed the scout's life

A coroner has refused to condemn a scout group following the death of a 15-year-old boy in a rockfall on Snowdonia.

North Wales coroner Dewi Pritchard-Jones said the incident in which Jamie Chambers from Liverpool died was "sheer bad luck".

Mr Pritchard-Jones said that in the past the movement had sometimes been rapped after mountain tragedies.

But he told the inquest hearing at Bangor that the rockfall could not be foreseen and the outing in north Wales had been a well-organised group.

Mr Pritchard-Jones recorded a verdict of misadventure on Jamie Chambers - whom he described as a competent climber - who died last October while abseiling on Little Tryfan in the Ogwen Valley.

The teenager was a member of the 26th Birkenhead Scout group.

Rock crashed down

The inquest heard how he had kicked off to abseil down a gully when a pinnacle to which one of the ropes was strapped, broke off.

He was struck and lay on a gully, conscious, and chatting to Scout leaders who tended him.

But 10 minutes after the fall, a large lump of rock crashed into his chest and also injured two of his rescuers.

An RAF helicopter flew him to hospital.

Twenty-five members of the Ogwen Valley mountain rescue team assisted with the evacuation to hospital in Bangor.

Full inquiry

The group of nine boys who were aged 12 to 15 and from Birkenhead, had five adult instructors with them.

Mr Pritchard-Jones said there was not much that the party could have done to avoid the tragedy.

Following the tragedy last October, scout leaders launched a full inquiry.

Birkenhead Scout Association Deputy District Commissioner Dave Price said at the time it would take the group a long time to come to terms with Jamie's loss.