THE climber who died on Ben Nevis on Sunday was named yesterday as a 32-year-old man from England who had international climbing experience.

Paul Guest, from Rock, near Kidderminster, was pronounced dead at the scene after falling 1000ft.

He had been climbing with his friend David Warden, 46, from near Perth who suffered serious injuries and was taken to the Belford Hospital in Fort William before being transferred to Perth Royal Infirmary.

Mr Guest had been climbing for more than 10 years and in 2009 scaled the 24,389ft Nanda Devi East in the Indian Himalayas. He had previously reached the summits of mountains in the Alps and Bolivia.

The two men had been near the top of Ben Nevis on Sunday but were found seriously injured at the bottom of the 1000ft Zero Gully by Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team and a Sea King rescue helicopter.

Nearby climbers who were also tackling the gully, on the north face, had heard screams and called the police.

The Zero Gully is one of Ben Nevis's three most popular ice climbs near the summit of the peak, along with Point Five and The Orion.

John Stevenson, the mountain rescue team leader, said: "It is another tragedy on the Ben. Hopefully we won't see any more this winter."