Police name woman killed in freak accident in the Cairngorms
Police have now named a woman who was killed in a freak accident earlier this month when she was hit by a boulder whilst on a trip in the Cairngorms.
Jane Marie Doole, (61), from Leighton Buzzard, was struck whilst she was on Pygmy Ridge in Coire an t-Sneachda on Tuesday September 2.
Police co-ordinated a mountain rescue after they were alerted at around 2.30pm with assistance from the Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team and Royal Navy Sea King Helicopter Rescue 177 but she could not be resuscitated.
Ms Doole had been part of a group of six hill-walkers who had organised the trip through the dating and friendship website, Outdoor Duo.
Cairngorms Mountain Rescue Team leader Willie Anderson said that the boulder may have become loose after the recent heavy rain following the remnants of Hurricane Bertha which had lashed the strath.
Mr Anderson told the ‘Strathy’ in the immediate aftermath of the accident that the party had been climbing in three groups of two.
He said: "The day before, they had done a route quite successfully. On this route, the first two started off and they finished it, the next two then started off and they finished it and then the final two went, a man and woman,
"A stone boulder, pretty big by all accounts, fell and hit the woman on the head, and sadly the injury proved to be fatal.
"In the interim, the first two who had finished the route had walked down the Goat Track and back to the base of the climb and came across a commotion, likewise the next two did the same, and they realised that it was one of their party who had been killed.
"Her climbing partner witnessed the whole thing, so we got him off the hill and then got the other four off the hill, and the navy helicopter came to retrieve the victim."
The mountain leader said that the Pygmy Ridge was not regarded as a very difficult route.
He said: "It’s at the low end of technical climbing. You need ropes in it but it’s not particularly dangerous – it’s more a moderate rock climb."
A report has been submitted to the procurator fiscal.
