An Army veteran slipped to his death while trying to retrieve a drone from a narrow Snowdon ridge, an inquest heard today.
Mountaineering enthusiast William Onion, 33, who served in Afghanistan before becoming a fitness trainer, was ‘a stickler for safety’, the hearing was told.
But tragically at around 11am on November 11 last year – Armistice Day – he suffered multiple injuries while filming with his drone on Crib Goch, regarded as the toughest route up the 1,085 metres (3,560 ft) peak and scene of multiple previous tragedies.
Sarah Edwards, who was among five friends who accompanied him on the ascent, said the former lance corporal had slipped and cut his knee and finger minutes earlier, commenting: ‘Did you see that? I nearly went there.’
But she told today’s hearing in Caernarfon that a drone he had brought with him to film the stunning panorama then dropped down an ‘extremely steep’ part of the ridge.
Army veteran William Onion, 33, (pictured) slipped to his death while trying to retrieve a drone from a narrow Snowdon ridge, an inquest heard today
The mountaineering enthusiast had served in Afghanistan before becoming a fitness trainer
William died while attempting the Crib Goch trail on the mountain known as yr Wydffa
She described seeing Mr Onion holding a phone in one hand and the drone remote control in his other.
‘I looked backwards towards Will. He came off his feet and fell on his back, sliding down the side of the mountain quite rapidly.’
He then fell out of sight.
Temporary Police Sergeant Matthew Jones said Mr Onion lost his footing while trying to retrieve the drone, suffering multiple injuries which proved fatal.
Born in Belfast, Mr Onion joined the Royal Signals and went onto serve in Afghanistan.
An experienced hiker, after leaving the Army he settled in Bournemouth and worked as a fitness trainer, nicknamed ‘Coach Pickles’, leading trips to his beloved mountains.
His father Alastair Onion told the hearing his son had ‘a passion for the outdoors’ and did ‘boot camps’ and charity work.
He’d been on Crib Goch several times and was ‘a stickler for safety’, he added.
‘We remain extremely proud of William in everything he has done.’
Mr Onion, who was born in Belfast, joined the Royal Signals and went onto serve in Afghanistan
Willia (pictured) was an experienced hiker, and after leaving the Army he settled in Bournemouth and worked as a fitness trainer
Partner Nichol Martin, a schoolteacher, said he was due to go with a party to Mount Everest in March.
‘Will was very conscious of safety,’ she said in a statement.
Recording a conclusion that his death was an accident, Kate Robertson, senior coroner for north west Wales, said: ‘William had his drone with him.
‘He appears to have then, when there was an issue with the drone, tried to recover it and during that has slipped and fallen some distance.’
Saying he had by all accounts been ‘a wonderful man’, the coroner added: ‘He had his life ahead of him.
‘He was doing something he so loved at that time in an area he loved. He had so much longer to live.’
Following the tragedy, Mr Onion’s father said: ‘He passed at 11am on the eleventh day of the eleventh month, a soldier through and through, a son that no man could have been prouder of.
‘He was happy, loved and someone that whoever met him, thought the world of him.’