A group of heroic British friends from Cornwall charged back into a life-threatening snowstorm, described as a 'category 3 hurricane', in a desperate bid to save their companion during a hiking disaster in Chile.
The Trek That Turned Deadly
The five friends from Newquay, Hayley Newnham, 41, Tom Player, 39, Matt Smith, 39, Christian Aldridge, 41, and Victoria Bond, 40, were on what was supposed to be the hiking trip of a lifetime in the Patagonia region. On November 17, while trekking between campsites in the famed Torres del Paine National Park, they were caught in a brutal and freak blizzard on a mountain.
Tom Player later described the terrifying conditions to Cornwall Live, stating the group was trapped in "effectively a category 3 hurricane". He recounted, "We were in a blizzard. You couldn't see anything. It was like being inside a white box three metres across." The cold was so extreme that his phone battery died instantly when he tried to make an SOS call.
A Desperate Rescue Attempt
Despite the horror, some of the exhausted group managed to escape to safety, and the alarm was raised by other travellers. However, they realised Victoria Bond was missing. Driven by adrenaline and loyalty, members of the group made the courageous decision to turn back into the deadly storm to find her.
Equipped with only a tent, a sleeping bag, and warm clothes for their friend, they trudged back into the whiteout. Powered by pure adrenaline, they ran back to the point where they had initially turned around at a 1,000 metre elevation, a journey that took them just 45 minutes.
Player described the decision as "heart over head really", driven by an overwhelming need to find Victoria. However, the mission took a devastating turn when Player stopped to aid another stricken trekker, Nadine, whose husband had died. After giving her his spare jacket and sleeping bag, he faced an impossible choice.
"I couldn't even turn my head into the wind it was that strong," he said. "I started to think that if I fell or twisted my ankle, no-one would ever find me and I'd die. I had to think of my own safety. I turned around."
A Tragic Outcome
Other members of the group who had continued up the mountain with a makeshift stretcher also had to alter their mission, stopping to help an unconscious woman who, tragically, never regained consciousness. She became one of the five people who lost their lives in the disaster.
Tragically, Victoria Bond's body was later discovered at the mountain's highest point. Like the others, she had died from hyperthermia and exhaustion. By the time rescue teams reached the area the next day, Tom Player sombrely noted, "It was no longer a rescue mission. It was a recovery mission."
Victoria Bond has been remembered by her employers at Visit Isles of Scilly as a woman full of "life, energy, and an infectious enthusiasm," a tragic loss from a trip that promised so much adventure.
