Mystery over young climbers' fatal fall

French police were yesterday trying to piece together the final moments of the youngest man ever to conquer Everest who fell to his death while climbing with a friend in the Alps.

Rob Gauntlett and James Atkinson, both 21, fell 600m, while attempting to scale a section of Mont Blanc early on Saturday morning. A special alpine unit of the French gendarmerie said yesterday there was no immediate explanation for the fall of the two young but experienced, British climbers.

"These two climbers came unstuck for an unknown reason and fell for nearly 600m while they were climbing in the the Couloir Gervasutti (a narrow crevice in the mountain side) on the eastern face of Mont Blanc," a spokesman for the Gendarmerie de Haute Montagne said yesterday.

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Another officer said that there had been no reports of avalanches at that time in that part of the Mont Blanc massif. "There might have been a smaller, local, ice fall, as temperatures fluctuate but it is too early to say," the officer said. "It appears that these climbers were experienced and well-equipped. At present, the accident is difficult to explain but often, if there are no witnesses, it is that way."

Mr Gauntlett's parents have flown to France. Speaking from the family home in Petworth, West Sussex, on Saturday night, his mother Nicola said: "We are all just devastated. He's far too young to die. We had spoken about something like this happening only recently. We can only take consolation that he died doing something that he loved."

James Hooper, 21, with whom Mr Gauntlett climbed Everest in 2006, when they were just 19, said he had been with the pair shortly before their deaths. But he said, as the two most experienced mountaineers, he and Mr Gauntlett had split off with their two less experienced friends.

"Rob and James went off to do a route and my friend and I looked at a route but didn't like the look of the weather so we decided not to," he said.

"Then the weather suddenly cleared up but, by that time, it was too late for us to start our route and we decided to come down. Then Rob and James stayed up there and they were trying to do a big route yesterday morning and fell.

"Rob and I have been best friends since we were 15 and so we knew each other really well and have been on lots of expeditions together," he said.

"He was practically a brother to me. I'm obviously devastated but I'm just trying to remember the fact that he was a wonderful person and he inspired me and others in so many different ways. Rob was so ambitious and driven to get the most of life and have the best experiences. He really pushed himself as hard as he could. It was only because he was such a motivated and driven person that the accident happened but those were the qualities that made him so incredible. I certainly wouldn't have been able to achieve any of it without Rob. We worked as a team and without him we wouldn't have been able to do it."

He also saluted Mr Atkinson, a Durham University student from Sussex, as a "top guy" who was highly motivated about outdoor pursuits. "He loved climbing and he loved cycling and he has been a great friend of ours for many years.

"This time in Chamonix was the first time that the group of all four of us best friends have been able to get away and have a big holiday together."

A tribute page has been set up on Facebook. One visitor wrote: "His loss is as tragic as it is untimely. Maybe it's some consolation that he managed to pack more into his 21 years than most of us would ever in 70."

Mr Gauntlett and Mr Hooper hatched a plan during their GCSEs to climb Everest, which they succeeded in doing three years later. Speaking from the summit in May 2006, Mr Gauntlett said: "James and I are really keen on getting the message out to young people to follow your dreams. This has been our dream for three years." Mr Gauntlett, who was also a keen cyclist, continued to take on extreme challenges and, in March 2007, he and Mr Hooper set off on a journey from the North Geomagnetic Pole to the South Magnetic Pole using entirely human and natural power.

Over the next 13 months, the adventurers travelled 26,000 miles using methods including skis, dog sleds, cycling and sailing. While skiing between Canada and Greenland, Mr Gauntlett fell through the melting sea ice and was left unconscious for three hours as Mr Hooper phoned for help.

Mr Gauntlett was a motivational speaker with Mr Hooper, with their website stating: "They are keen not only to emphasise the importance of protecting our environment through education and lifestyle choices, but also to ignite a flame in everyone they meet which pushes them to utilise their talents and achieve their ambitions."

Stephen Venables: If one person slips, it's very hard for the other to check their fall

It may be unwise to speculate on the cause of these deaths until we have more detail. Broadly speaking, we can envisage two different scenarios in which the accident took place. The two climbers might have been "belaying", a technique where one climber goes up to 50 metres ahead of the other and controls the rope between them using friction. We say that when belaying, you are climbing pitch by pitch. Only one person moves at a time while the other is firmly anchored to the mountain.

Generally you have several intermediate anchors, called running belays, between the two climbers. That way, should the leader fall, he or she doesn't necessarily take out the follower. Running belays are usually separated by about 15 metres.

It is conceivable that an intermediary anchor failed and then the main anchor holding the pair to the mountain was also dislodged. If they had been on a steep climb, this would be the most likely scenario: they were pitching, one person safeguarding the other, and the anchor failed. That might have been caused by one of them slipping; when the leader fell, he would have pulled the other off.

The other scenario is that they were "moving together", at the same time on a shortened rope. Climbers often do this but only really if they have reached much easier ground.

By modern standards, the Gervasutti Couloir is comparatively easy ground, which makes me think they were probably moving together rather than belaying. Moving together is very hard to do well. If one person slips, it's difficult for the other person to check their fall.

Some of the climbs in this area are very hard. Over 20 years ago, I attempted a steep couloir on Mont Blanc du Tacul, the Super-Couloir, and just missed making the summit. We may never know exactly what happened. Climbing the Alps is a thrilling game, but snow and ice are inherently dangerous. I feel desperately sorry for the families of the young climbers.

Stephen Venables was the first Briton to climb Everest without oxygen and has 35 years of Alpine experience. His most recent book is First Ascent.