A KEEN walker fell 300 feet to his death on a Lake District fell after encountering a glacier-like sheet of ice.

Stephen Keane, 66, had set off for Dow Crag near Coniston with a friend for "what was intended to be a pleasant walk up the mountain", an inquest heard.

However, the pair met with "a lot more ice and snow" than anticipated and did not have the crampons and ice axes they needed to get up the fell,

Retired statistics analyst Mr Keane, of Cheadle, had been married to his Russian wife Elena for just two-and-a-half months before he died on Thursday, February 22 this year. The couple met while she was teaching him Russian.

Robert Chapman, assistant coroner for Cumbria, told the widow how quickly and unexpectedly the Lake District weather could change - in winter or summer - and a situation could get "out of hand".

"It's clear in this case it was pretty frightening when they were on the hill," he said. "They just got out of the situation where they could cope, I think, and part of that was not having the right gear.

"They clearly set off thinking they had the right gear, but when they were on the mountain because of the change of weather, because of what they found, they didn't have all the stuff they needed."

The assistant coroner told Mrs Keane-Mur: "You must miss him an awful lot. I'm so sorry this has happened."

Ray Skwierczyski, a long-time walking friend of Mr Keane, told the Kendal hearing they had set off at 6am to drive to the Lakes. The weather was clear when they started their walk, but they unexpectedly met with a sheet of ice like a glacier.

They diverted to the left of the usual route up Dow Crag, but the steep, icy and snowy terrain forced them to climb on their hands and feet, rather than walk.

Mr Skwierczyski told the inquest he felt frightened and had managed to get onto a ledge. He heard Mr Keane below him say he was in some difficulty. Shortly after he heard rocks give way as Mr Keane fell.

Tommy Spencer, out walking with his girlfriend, saw the walker's body and it seemed clear he was already dead. Coniston Mountain Rescue Team was called out and brought Mr Keane down to a hut, where an air ambulance doctor formally pronounced him dead.

The assistant coroner said the cause of death was multiple injuries, and he recorded a verdict of accidental death.