Mountaineer who took up fossil hunting after avalanche discovers rare 'sea dragon'
Myerscough returned to Yr Wyddfa in 2018 for the Dragon's Back Challenge, hiking past the place where he had almost died, but said by then he was moving away from mountaineering. "Being on the beach, and looking for fossils, and being kind of really focused on one specific task... it has been a tool for me to kind of process things," he said. He and two fellow fossil hunters were walking away from Lavernock Point when they spotted a large shape in the limestone.
- ▪Myerscough returned to Yr Wyddfa in 2018 for the Dragon's Back Challenge, hiking past the place where he had almost died, but said by then he was moving away from mountaineering.
- ▪"Being on the beach, and looking for fossils, and being kind of really focused on one specific task... it has been a tool for me to kind of process things," he said.
- ▪He and two fellow fossil hunters were walking away from Lavernock Point when they spotted a large shape in the limestone.
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| Publication time | Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:17:18 GMT |
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Mountaineer who took up fossil hunting after avalanche discovers rare 'sea dragon'Image source, Ceri OakesImage caption, Fossil hunter Matthew Myerscough says finding fossils like this ichthyosaur in Somerset has helped him to recover a near-death accidentByPaul PigottBBC WalesPublishedJust nowA mountaineer who nearly died in an avalanche has described how his recovery led him to amateur fossil hunting and the discovery of a marine reptile or "sea dragon" not found in Wales before.Matthew Myerscough said he was left with post-traumatic stress disorder after being unconscious for 20 minutes buried beneath a metre of snow after a slide on Yr Wyddfa, also known as Snowdon, in 2014.It led him away from the mountains to fossil-laden beaches at Lavernock Point in the Vale of Glamorgan, where he…
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