Friends of an extreme sports enthusiast who tragically fell 60ft to her death from one of Britain’s deadliest mountains watched in horror as she went ‘tumbling through the air’, an inquest heard today.
Influencer Maria Eftimova, 28, who friends said had an ‘insatiable thirst for life and exploring our world’s beauty’, joined a Facebook group who went hiking up a 3,000ft Snowdonia peak.
The thrill-seeker – who had more than 10,000 followers on social media – was an experienced climber who had recently completed an ice-climbing course in Norway.
But tragically the engineering student lost her footing when her heel slipped while scrambling up Tryfan on February 22.
Neil Oakes, who was among a group of about 18 on the peak when the party split in two, said he had been ahead of Ms Eftimova and turned around to check on his companions.
‘I turned around again and saw Maria tumbling through the air below me,’ he said in a statement to the inquest.
‘I knew there was going to be an impact. I was shouting “No,no,no!”
‘When I turned back she had hit the ledge below.’
Harry Jones, another witness to the tragedy, said about seven of the group on the peak had been going from ledge to ledge.
Maria Eftimova, 28, was going up the notorious Tryfan mountain in Snowdonia when the accident happened
An inquest was told how as she attempted to reach for a ledge, her heel slipped which caused her to tumble a ‘considerable distance’
Ms Eftimova was ahead of him and slipped as she pulled herself up.
‘All I saw was her flying over the top of my head and down the mountainside,’ he said.
Mr Jones said he ‘froze’ then dialled 999.
A rescue helicopter and mountain rescuers arrived at the scene but Ms Eftimova died from multiple injuries.
Jed Stone, of Ogwen Valley mountain rescue team, told the hearing she had been scrambling on the north ridge of Tryfan, an area of steep rocky ground and many cliff faces.
Originally from Bulgaria, Ms Eftimova had lived in the UK for ten years.
A heartbroken friend previously posted a video of the group of walkers attempting the ‘Mexican wave’ on the peak – half an hour before the tragic slip.
Nargesse El Haiba wrote on Facebook in a tribute to Ms Eftimova: ‘This will have been roughly 30 minutes before your tragic accident and you taking your last breaths in front of me.
‘I have grieved you and cried so much that I can’t cry anymore.
Maria Eftimova was an experienced climber who also enjoyed surfing and snowboarding
‘I will never take the mountains for granted again.’
Ms Eftimova – who was studying at Salford University and lived in St Helens, Merseyside – was a keen climber, surfer and snowboarder who had climbed Tryfan several times, her family said.
In a statement her father Rosen said: ‘We learned about Maria’s death from a telephone call from her friends with her at the time of the accident.’
North West Wales senior coroner Kate Robertson told the hearing in Caernarfon: ‘Very sadly it seems Maria was scrambling with others when she’s unintentionally and unexpectedly fallen.
‘During the course of that fall, she has sustained the injuries which have sadly led to her death.
‘That fall was entirely accidental.’
She concluded that Ms Eftimova’s death had been an accident.
When she opened the inquest, the coroner said Ms Eftimova had been ‘trying to reach a ledge to get a grip on the hand-hold and has gone to lift herself up’.
‘Her heel has slipped and she’s fallen from the ledge and it appears she’s fallen some distance.’
Claiming an average of two lives every year, Tryfan has been described as ‘one of the more challenging climbs in the UK’ by BBC Countryfile.
Ms Eftimova was the second woman to die within the space of a week on a Snowdonia peak after Dr Charlotte Crook, 30, fell on Glyder Fach just six days earlier.
Dr Charlotte Crook, 30, was walking on Glyder Fach, near Llanberis, Snowdonia, on February 16 when she tragically plunged to her death
In an online fund-raising appeal to support Ms Eftimova’s family, organisers wrote: ‘Maria was an ambitious, bright and cherished 28-year-old, whose vibrant personality, energy and aura touched and uplifted all around her.
‘She had a passion for engineering, having studied Civil Engineering at the University of Salford and a love for extreme sports, her biggest passion being snowboarding, which she was super excited for and looking forward to doing again on her upcoming trip to Austria.
‘She had an insatiable thirst for life and exploring our world’s beauty. Tragically, she was taken from her family far far far too soon!
‘Words cannot express the devastation her family and our community are experiencing.‘
