I've been on Scafell many times and have never seen any signs warning visitors of the dangers. I can feel a Health and Safety prosecution coming on.

No more health and safty please, our population sufferes enough of that nonsence. i have sympathys for her and her family and im sure she was well aware of the risks before she left. but you have to understand, your climbing a mountain. there is sheer faces you can die. Before i went to scarfell i researched the terrain and knew what ways were dangerous. not to do so would of been foolhardy. last thing i want when i got mountaineering is pathetic signes everywhere telling me to be carefull patronizeing me..

[color=#008000][/color] If you knew the EXACT spot from where she had fallen then you would under no circumstances advocate any form of Health and Safety warning notices. The 'Shamrock' is a dangerous small ledge beside the 'chockstone' which is currently partially blocking Loerd's Rake on Scafell Crag. It is an unbelievably foolhardy person who even ventures anywhere near this particular area, even more so someone who actually believes that it is safe and that there may be a route down there. Whilst I sympathise fully with her family and friends, it must be realised that no-one in their right mind would even consider this crag as an option for any kind of descent !

Let's remember that a woman lost her life here and remind ourselves of the terrible time both her family and her companion must be enduring. We should remember that every time we step foot on the fells and mountains, we take a number of risks and every one of us could end up making that one miscalculation or misjudgment that puts us in serious trouble. Our understanding of the circumstances are that the two walkers probably made an error of judgment while descending in the area and did not intend to take the route they did. It is very difficult to know what terrain lies below while coming down a fellside. On this occasion, Ms Wright's luck ran out, with the tragic consequences we reported. Our thoughts go to her family, friends and to those of her companion who was injured going to her aid.

Thanks editor for your comments. My wife is/was best friend of Clare, the woman who died. She was a lovely woman, not somebody to take stupid risks, it sounds like an appalling accident - trust me - it wasn't intentional foolhardiness, let's stop such speculation. I've no idea about the area and/or the warnings in place, but we all understand that fell walking is not without risk, it's a matter of appropriateness of warning and individual judgement. But at the moment let's not forget the human tragety that has hit Clare's family, particularly her son, reflecton on risk and the circumstances of this accident can follow - but please do not seek to blame Clare and her partner. David

Dear grough editor Thank you for your intervention. I came across this page when I was trying to find out a bit more about what happened to Clare Wright, my aunt. (It may seem strange to do this via the web but I didn't want to put pressure on her walking companion or other familiy members by asking them when they have enough to deal with.) Clare deserves to be remembered with respect. She was an experienced walker who was very much in her right mind but made a fatal error. As grough editor reminds us, there is an element of risk involved in such walks. Let's not remember her by defacing the beauty of the wild country she loved with safety signs. But please, grough readers, don't wrong her on the web either.

Dear grough editor I think David has said it better than I did -- please feel free to ignore my earlier comment -- except for the bit where I say thank you for what you posted! Amanda

Further to my previous post I would like to add the following : Like the greatest of all fellwalkers', the legendary Alf Wainwright, repeatedly stated : "Fellwalking poses absoloutely no more risk whatsoever than merely walking down the street." He then went on to say : "Anyone who suffers a mishap on the fells has either forgotten to watch where he is putting his feet, or has taken such a risk which clearly deems him unsuitable for fellwalking." With these comments in mind (ones in which I sincerely believe), I would love to know the mentality of someone who descends a crag with a clear 500-600ft near-vertical drop immediately in front of them and absoloutely no clear path visible ?

Accidents happen. Speaking ill of the dead is the mark of a small person.

And pray tell me - just who is 'speaking ill of the dead' ? I'm merely stating and clarifying the blatantly obvious facts !!!

There is risk in everything we do - we make judgments every hour of the day. The risk of, say, crossing a road is small - it's likely all our life nothing will go wrong, but risks are there - sometime, somewhere some poor soul will suffer. I fell down the stairs a couple of years ago - no idea why - just slipped. I ended up a little bruised (mostly ego) but OK. Since then I've walked down the stairs hundreds of times in exactly the same way. The victim here probably slipped after taking a mature view of the risk - we don't know what happened. Fell wlaking may be low risk but the existance of the mountainrescue teams attests that risks are real and not all accidents are due to negligence by any means. To jump to blame the victim is unnecessary and inappropriate. David

Condolences to Clare's family and friends. We were up there on Saturday. We're a fairly experienced group of walkers and even we stray from the routes occasionally. This was, I imagine a momentary error of judgement with tragic consequences. It's just a shame that we can't all be as perfect as another guest commentator on this site who thinks that calling someone foolhardy and not in their right mind, is not speaking ill of the dead.

Yeah yeah yeah - call me perfect my friend - I certainly didn't do that ! Let me put a scenario to all you sceptic's then : You are descending a mountain in absoloute perfect clear visibility (and before you claim that I don't know that for sure - I was up in Wasdale from Thursday until Sunday, and indeed I climbed and descended the same mountain on the same day, so YES, I know that the weather conditions were indeed perfect !). As you descend towards what you believe to be the path you are presented, immediately in front of you, with a shear near-vertical crag with a drop of approx 500-600ft. Do you : A) Retrace your steps in an attempt to locate the correct route, or B) Proceed onwards in the hope (I say hope rather than belief since there is no way one could have seriously BELIEVED that they were on the right/safe path) that you might just be ok and manage the desecent. I would love to know the answer of you all to this question. And before any of you start presuming that I don't know the exact circumstances, locations etc etc etc of this tragic event, suffice it to say (without giving away too much, or even posting photographic evidence of the event on here) that I AM WHOLLY IN THE KNOW of exactly what happened and the circumstances surrounding this incident !

So tell us exactly what happened then

My friend Stuart and I went to Claire?s aid on that poor unfortunate Friday. It is something that will live with both of us for a very long time. I would like to say that no matter what the circumstances are for her descending the route she took, both Claire and her walking partner did not deserve the net result. Stuart and I climbed up to Claire in the hope that we could help and we sat with her for 2 hours comforting her as much as we could at the same time trying to comfort her walking partner who was also injured and stranded above us. During this time our wives were communicating with the emergency services in fact giving exact co-ordinates as to where Claire was. If any of Claire?s family would like to speak to either Stuart or myself then we would gladly do so. Regards Phil

It's not my place to do that I'm afraid. My point all along has been that these two people evidently had absoloutely no idea about the exact area they were travelling through, and that they made some ridiculous decisions which no-one in their 'right mind' would normally make ! Can people not just accept that I am stating the facts as they are !

My son Phil and his friend Stuart who are not mentioned in any of the news coverage of this tragedy were first on the scene here and were with Clare for 2 hours trying to comfort and ultimately rescusitate her although sadly to no avail before she died.The mountain rescue team were 2 hours getting to there .These two lads are unsung heroes who did their best for her in what was a very difficult and dangerous situation.

Further to my post Number 16 above, I would like to say that (like post number 15), I too was actually at the scene.

It is a natural part of the grieving process for friends and family to ask questions to find out the circumstances of this accident. This is not a blame game, we are where we are, but it does help the grieving to find what went so tragically wrong.

Claire's walking partner is the only person who can tell you exactly how the accident happened as he was with her. Stuart and I can detail immediate family on what happened after the fall as were were first on the scene having heard Claires partners cry for help. I do not want to divulge information to the general public so if any of Claires family would like to personally discuss anything to help with the grieving process they can contact me directly at Phil@ctcm.co.uk.

My wife an I were walking in Wasdale for the week preceding the accident - both of us are experienced walkers. It is a tragic thing that happened that day. We take risks in life to challenge ourselves and bring the mundane in to perspective. My heart goes out to the family and firmly believe that it is better to have died trying in life than never to have tried at all. We live in secluded isolation (generally behind computer screens) - the mountains make us realize the precious beauty of life - through challenge we experience the futility of the vicious world we sometimes live in. I for one will continue to walk and will always help anyone I find in need on mountain, moor or dale! Accept my deepest sympathy - I was near by only an hour or so before it happened.

Thank you Phil and Stuart for staying with my sister when she fell. She and her companion loved to climb and were experienced sensible people. It is tragic that someone so full of life should have died.