A CORONER has issued a plea to fell walkers to wear bright clothing after a mountain rescue team were unable to see a young woman who had tragically died.
Alexandria Lea was discovered dead by Langdale Mountain Rescue Team on February 29 after the 23-year-old fell while descending Pavey Ark in Langdale.
An inquest into Miss Lea’s death heard she was ‘vibrant’, ‘active’, ‘fun-loving’ and ‘driven’. She had graduated with a first-class degree in biomedical sciences from Oxford Brookes University and was looking forward to going to Sunderland University’s medical school.
She was ‘always focused’ on her studies and hoped to become a doctor. She enjoyed running and liked to go walking in the Lake District.
Her mum Susan Wright said: “She was my best friend. I’m totally heartbroken and my world has shattered. The pain is indescribable.”
Cockermouth Coroners’ Court heard Miss Lea was ‘excited’ to go to the Lake District on the morning of February 26. She left her home in Hexham and had booked to stay in a youth hostel in Grasmere.
She sent a photo on Snapchat to her mum later that day but Mrs Wright didn’t hear from her daughter after that and assumed her phone battery died.
Mrs Wright became concerned when she didn’t hear from Miss Lea again. She called the youth hostel to see if she had checked in but she hadn’t.
Mrs Wright reported her daughter missing to the police on February 28. Langdale Mountain Rescue Team began searching for Miss Lea the following morning due to the difficulty of searching the area in the dark.
Miss Lea was discovered at Pavey Ark after the rescue team ‘spotted something white and grey’. It had been ‘impossible’ to see her from further away, the inquest heard. It appeared she had been off-route when she attempted to climb some rocks and had fallen about 20 metres, it was said.
Miss Lea’s death was confirmed. The mountain rescue team paused for a minute’s silence and then read the Alfred Wainwright poem, ‘The Fleeting Hour of Life’ before recovering her body.
‘The fleeting hour of life of those who love the hills is quickly spent, but the hills are eternal. Always there will be the lonely ridge, the dancing beck, the silent forest; always there will be the exhilaration of the summits. These are for the seeking, and those who seek and find while there is still time will be blessed both in mind and body.’
Miss Lea’s death was caused by injuries she sustained in the fall. The cause of death was a cervical spinal fracture.
Robert Cohen, assistant coroner for Cumbria, commended mountain rescue volunteers for the ‘exceptional work they do in the most difficult circumstances’.
He said: “I know how much they can struggle with cases where they have not been able to save somebody but I commend them for the thorough and professional job they did here.”
The coroner concluded that Miss Lea’s death was accidental and passed on his condolences to Miss Lea’s family.
Mr Cohen then said: “While it has no relevance to how Alexandria came to die, there’s an important point I want to make more widely known.
“Her trousers, bag and jacket all matched the colour of the rock, making her impossible to spot from further away.
“I take this public opportunity to issue a plea to those on the fells – disregard fashion. If you are going out into the mountains, you should be going out in fluorescent clothes that make you instantly visible to search teams.
“There seem to be a lot of clothing and outdoor jackets that make mountain rescue teams’ job more difficult.
“It’s a public health point I’m making. It’s far more safe to wear very bright clothes.”
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