Yet another casualty of inadequate kit. If the guy was "well-equipped" he wouldn't have died from severe hypothermia. Being "well-quipped" means having the right gear for the conditions likely to be encountered - and on a mountain that means cold, regardless of the weather at the bottom.

Jude, I can climb Ben Nevis in winkle pickers with no problem, but someone else might suffer death from a thousand falls. So what makes the "right equipment"?

We hear it time and time again "right equipment" but nobody mentions the unspeakable.... is that person too fat or unfit or unsuitable to walk up a mountain?

No matter how much goretex you wear, if you ain't fit for walking up 4000 feet, your a statistic awaiting to happen.

Also, hypothermia can be caused by wearing too much clothing and overheating. So, if that's the case, his "right equipment" killed him!

The vast amount of rescues can be down to inexperience and lack of fitness. There will always be genuine accidents even to experienced walkers and climbers. But many will get themselves down, where as others will cry for a helicopter because of a broken toenail half a mile from a road...and they have booked a restaurant table at 8pm, so it's urgent.

Overheating due to too much clothing is Hyperthermia and doesn't happen very much in weather conditions we have at the moment however far too many people go into the hills with inadequate equipment and most don't think about 'what if???'

How callous Jude. Sometimes it's better to say nothing. My sympathy to his friends and family.

My sympathy to his friends and family.

It is a circus with people doing the 3 peaks. A couple of weeks ago I did Castle Ridge (mod rock climb) in horrible conditions, as the weather predicted fresh snow above 1000m, about -5, we had to nav over to the zig zags and the sight I saw was shocking; people in denim jeans, jackets, a guy carrying a bow and arrow, 60%+ in white street trainers, people sat drinking cans of beer, groups of kids running around with no obvious gardian. Complete Chaos

Jester, I agree with your comment.

I Climed Ben Nevis on Saturday.
It should never be underestimated the challenge of walking this Mountain
OK your always going to get the very experienced saying it's a peice of cake and I have to admit that on the fine day we were given,the tourist route was challenging but achievable for somone like me of reasonable fitness.
The mood can change on this mountain very quickly though,and when the cloud comes over it can become very cold and the wind can wistle round the mountain too.
I was totally smitten with Ben Nevis.The views from every angle are stunning but beware,Take plenty of water,Sugary foods fresh fruit and get a quality pair of walking shoes or boots and wear layers of clothing that you can add or remove as required,and stay alert,and know your limits.Take a break when things are getting too tuff and remember even the tourist route can be fatel.Narrow stoney paths and wet boulders could have you slipping of the side.
Have fun but remember this is a seriously big Mountain and deserves respect for it's status as the biggest mountain in Britain.

I know (knew ?) Arnaud and Simon, both students. I don't know what clothes they had on that day, maybe not enough efficient ones to fight against the cold weather, but maybe yes.
Anyway, what family and friends have been told about the death, is that Arnaud had an aneurism breaking (is this the good translation for "rupture d'anévrisme" ?), which is not linked to the weather. It can happen in your bed while you're sleeping.
Some comments here would hurt so much his friend Simon, who was with him, who tried to save him, then to raise the alarm as quick as possible.
He feels so responsible now, but he is only 22 : could he know something about aneurism breaking ?? Could he really prevent that ?
All my thoughts to Simon, who needs to follow his own life and to be brave. I'm really sure he behaved as well as possible that horrible day. Simon, I support you.
And all my thoughts to Arnaud's family and friends.
And for those who want to know who Arnaud was, he was a student in history, he was passioned, he was dreaming of a better social world, and he spent his time fighting against injustice.

My colleague and I were on the Ben on Sunday, and descended in the dark after completing the Carn Mor Dearg route. We must have been about 30-45 minutes ahead of Arnaud and Simon. We were puzzled by the initial diagnosis of hypothermia as, although the wind was strong and it was raining - quite heavily at times - it was not exceptionally cold below the summit plateau, especially if they were reasonably equipped. An aneurism makes a lot more sense.

I only wish our paths had crossed so Arnaud could have had someone with him while help was raised.

Our sympathies to his family and friends on this sad occasion.

I would add we also passed a party of four below the halfway lochan, descending in the dark with an elderly member, and only one torch between them. We offered assistance and/or headtorches but were declined. We could still not see their light when we reached the road, so I can only assume they had a long and tiresome descent.

Arnaud was a history student in 3rd year at Montpellier university. And I agree with Marie Noelle, he believed in social justice, participated in many student demonstrations and defended university and students as part of a students union. He was open and friendly. He'd just gone for a year as an ERASMUS student in Prague. We had lost touch with him. We just learned today the sad news from a friend of his.

I was doing my ERASMUS in Durham, not so far from where he died (about 3 or 4 hours by car) and I had been up Ben Nevis a few years before that. Thus, I feel deeply grieved by this news, having been so close and knowing the place where he fell.

Our sympathies to family and friends, on behalf of the history students of Montpellier Paul-Valéry University.