Doctor died after slipping 40ft on mountain in Snowdonia

Dr Vun Lim, 51, a respected rheumatologist who had worked at Wrexham Maelor Hospital, made the fatal decision not to anchor herself to the rock on that section and, although wearing a helmet, struck her head when she fell. The doctor died in hospital at Stoke on Trent last July.

North West Wales senior coroner Dewi Pritchard Jones recorded a conclusion that Dr Lim, of Abbots Drive, Chester, died after an accident on Dinas Mot in the Llanberis Pass.

Philip Davidson told the Caernarfon hearing the doctor was a very competent climber and was fit. She had more than a decade of climbing experience and was keen to climb the cliff.

They had been on the final pitch of the climb which compared to the other sections was “very easy”. Dr Lim climbed past him and was some distance above when she fell.

“It was such an easy pitch. I and plenty of other colleagues have done what she did,” Mr Davidson said.

“For some reason she slipped and came past me.”

Dr Lim was left suspended upside down, unresponsive and eventually a rescue helicopter reached the scene.

Mr Davidson said: "Life without risk is a poor existence.”

The coroner said the number of deaths in Snowdonia while rock climbing was “relatively few” and the doctor and Mr Davidson were experienced and competent and enjoyed “quite serious rock-climbing”.

She knew her limits and they were equipped properly.

However, on the section of the climb where she fell the doctor had not anchored herself to stop her plunging a long distance and tumbled on the rope.

“There’s no such thing as a safe mountain,” Mr Pritchard Jones said. “There’s always an element of risk.

"With the benefit of hindsight, if she used protection on that last limb, she wouldn’t have fallen the distance she did.

"She chose not to and that made the fall a lot more serious.”

Mr Pritchard Jones summed up: "The moral here is not to relax and to continue to use protection, even though the risk is less.”