A YOUNG woman who was seriously hurt in an avalanche which killed four of her friends remains in a critical condition in hospital.
The 24-year-old, from the Durham area, is being cared for at Glasgow's Southern General Hospital, where she was flown after initially being treated at Belford hospital in Fort William.
She suffered severe head injuries in the avalanche, which struck at about 2pm on Saturday as the woman and five friends made their descent on Bidean Nam Bian in Glencoe in the Scottish Highlands. There has been no change in her condition.
PhD students Christopher Bell, 24, and Tom Chesters, 28, and 25-year-old junior doctor Una Finnegan were swept 1,000ft to their deaths as they made their way down the mountain. Another woman was also killed. Police have so far withheld her name to allow her family members to inform other relatives.
One man survived by leaping from the collapsing sheet of snow and hammering an ice axe into firmer ground. Friends have said the group were experienced climbers who loved the mountains and were well-equipped for the trek.
Mr Bell was studying for a PhD in ocean mapping in Oban. Northern Constabulary initially said he was from Blackpool, Lancashire, but later said he was from Blackburn.
Mr Chesters had been living in Leeds and working towards his PhD qualification at Hull University while Ms Finnegan, originally from Coleraine in Co Londonderry, was a qualified doctor who lived in Edinburgh.
Sam Morris, 35, who used to work with Mr Bell and Mr Chesters as mountain bike guides in the French Alps, said they were both elite outdoor pursuits competitors and spent most of their free time on the mountains.
Speaking from France, he said: "It was so few years lived but I know there's not much either one of them would have done differently. They seized every opportunity.
"They'd do things that people who spend their whole lives sitting behind a desk wish they could have done. When they died, they were with the people they loved, doing what they loved."
