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Climber crushed under one-tonne boulder won’t let accident stop her

Fiona was saved by Skye Mountain Rescue
Fiona was saved by Skye Mountain Rescue

Fiona Bennett suffered serious injuries after the huge rock landed on her left leg.

She was trapped for hours on a remote peak before rescuers were able to prise the rock from her badly crushed limb.

Despite this, the 26-year-old plans a return to the Highlands.

“I nearly lost my life but I love climbing so much I’ll never give it up,” she said.

Fiona was in a party descending a steep section of Glen Brittle on Skye when disaster struck.

She reached out to steady herself on a boulder, but it moved, taking her with it.

She was left with her head pointing downwards and the rock stuck fast on top of her some 2,000ft up.

“I fell forward, crashed against the ground and was caught in a nightmare Catherine wheel decent for about 25 feet,” said the accountant from Pollok, Glasgow.

“The rock stopped, landing on my left leg, leaving me trapped under its weight.

“I was unconscious and didn’t come round for 10 minutes.

“When I did, my friends were horrified, but I couldn’t see what all the fuss was about.

“I was sure they would move the rock off my leg and we could get off the mountain.

“I couldn’t see the size of the boulder and they didn’t tell me in case it made me panic.”

Incredibly, one pal propped Fiona up while she made her own 999 call.

Tommy Johnstone, part of the climbing party, said he thought Fiona had been killed.

“When she came to we were hugely relieved,” he said. “She didn’t know the size of the boulder pinning her down and we wouldn’t tell her.”

Despite her predicament, Fiona said she “felt nothing”.

“I was in no pain,” she added. “Even though two major bones below my knee were crushed and shattered.”

Mountain rescuers and a helicopter were able to locate the experienced and well-equipped climbers.

It took the six-man rescue team an hour to work out how to pull the rock off her leg.

“I’ve never felt so grateful in my life,” Fiona said.

“The guys at Skye Mountain Rescue are my heroes.”

Following the 2014 incident, Fiona was flown by air ambulance to Glasgow Royal Infirmary.

At one point doctors warned she might lose her leg.

But Fiona has slowly battled back to health thanks to gruelling weekly physiotherapy sessions.

She hopes to be back in the mountains soon.“I love the freedom climbing gives me,” she added.


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