IN 1991, an engineer diced with death when he fell 400 feet down a Lake District mountain.

Ian Plain, 25 from Cirencester, careered down the icy mountain of Helvellyn and managed to stop just feet from another plunge which would have killed him.

“I put my toe on to a flat bit of snow and there was some ice underneath and I just went”, Ian told the Standard.

“I managed to dig my shoulders and hips in and finally stopped, I was 150 feet away from another huge drop.”

Ian blew an SOS on his whistle and was rescued by the Paterdale Mountain Rescue Team. 

Rescue leader Tom Fynn said: “He was lucky in the line his fall took, he missed the rocks but could have gone another 1,000 feet.”

Ian was taken to Carlisle hospital and discharged within hours, suffering just a broken rib and bruising.

The traumatic fall didn’t put Ian off his future plans to Nepal.

“I’ll see if I can find some bigger mountains to fall off”, he said.