Walkers on Striding EdgeA man has died on Helvellyn, four days after a fatality on the same mountain.

David Thomas Burke, of Newcastle, fell to his death from Striding Edge, while walking with a party of five. He fell about 250m (820ft) from the ridge into the Red Tarn corrie.

Walkers on Striding Edge 

Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team went to 41-year-old Mr Burke’s aid, but he was pronounced dead at the scene. An RAF helicopter airlifted his body to Cumberland Infirmary, Carlisle.

A spokesman for Cumbria Constabulary said Mr Burke and his companions were all properly equipped. “Whatever happened is a tragic accident. He was an experienced hillwalker. His party were all equipped with crampons and had the correct equipment for the hills in winter.”

He said there was about six or seven inches of ice on the tops. He urged people venturing on to the Lake District’s mountains to be prepared.

“If you are going out on the fells, leave a route card with someone; take proper equipment. Winter conditions mean weather can change rapidly in the hills. It can be nice and clear and bright in Keswick but very different on the tops. People need to be prepared and have the skills for the conditions.

“They need to be equipped with a map and compass and not just a mobile phone, which some people these days see as the only equipment necessary.”

Members of other mountain rescue teams who were in the area also went to Mr Burke’s aid.

The incident happened yesterday afternoon, just over a kilometre from the point where 62-year-old Michael Hollinshead was blown off the summit plateau and was killed in Brown Cove.

Helvellyn, at 950m (3,117ft), England’s third highest mountain, is the site of the Lake District authority’s daily fell-top weather report, compiled by ex-Commando Craig Palmer and his colleague Jon Bennett. Nine days ago, walkers and climbers were warned off attempting the ascent, due to a high avalanche risk.

Striding Edge is classed as a grade 1 scramble, with little in the way of technical difficulty, but with a large amount of exposure, with steep drops either side to Grisedale and the corrie of Red Tarn. Two weeks ago, 60-year-old Alan Sharples died when he fell from the similarly graded Sharp Edge on Blencathra, in the northern Lake District.