Trapped Shrewsbury climber Finn McCann feared death
Monday 23rd August 2010, 11:29AM BST.
A Shropshire climber dramatically rescued from Mont Blanc today revealed he feared he would not make it through the night when rescue teams were unable to launch a search after he got trapped in a fierce storm.
Finn McCann returned to Shrewsbury last night with mountaineering companion Tom Greenwood after the pair were airlifted to safety last Thursday when they spent more than 20 hours on the mountain on the French and Italian border.
The 23-year-olds were unable to make contact with rescue teams and had to text friend Chris Shannon in Shrewsbury and rely on him to contact international authorities. But when Mr Shannon told his friends the raging storms would prevent rescue teams from launching an overnight search, Mr McCann said he began to fear the worst.
He said: “I have been in more immediately serious situations but I have never been as concerned before. We were very cold and wet and I was worried about how low the temperatures would fall.
“We had phone numbers for the Italian and French rescue teams and also the emergency services but we still have no explanation of why we couldn’t get through. We decided to contact one of our most reliable friends, Chris, to check the forecast. We told him we wouldn’t make it through the night so it must have been very difficult for him to tell us we wouldn’t be rescued.”
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