Highland and Moray search and rescue helicopter winchman paramedic honoured at Pride of Britain Awards
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A paramedic who helped save the lives of at least 11 people has been honoured at the Pride of Britain Awards.
Duncan Tripp (60), who works from Inverness and lives in Lossiemouth, described it as "surreal and humbling" to receive the This Morning Emergency Services Award at the event, which aired on ITV last night.
Mr Tripp, a winchman paramedic with Rescue 151 in Inverness, risked his own life to come to the aid of scores of people on a treacherous day at Ben Nevis in March 2022.
He was aboard an Inverness Search and Rescue helicopter responding to a man in his 20s falling – but, on arrival at Ben Nevis, quickly discovered a vastly more complex incident.
Multiple groups of people were trapped on the mountain – the UK's biggest – with the quickly-deteriorating weather catching them off guard. One man had fallen to his death.
Duncan, who has 28 years experience in search and rescue having worked at RAF Kinloss and Lossiemouth, was tasked with helping the rest to safety.
"We tried to get the aircraft to the scene we were tasked to, but couldn't because the weather was horrendous," he explained.
"I got dropped off halfway up Ben Nevis and there were four different scenes, with people in different situations.
"I initially located four people slipping and sliding on a path, who eventually made their way down cautiously, and then, further up, a group of eight who were in worse condition.
"The group informed me that others were trapped higher up the mountain. Seven of the eight hunkered down, and one, called Steve, massively stepped up to the mark and came with me up the mountain. He was absolutely brilliant.
"There we located two guys, one with a broken leg, who were with a man who was deceased having slipped 300 metres.
"Mountain Rescue went to help them, and me and Steve carried on to another two guys in Red Burn Gully at the top of the mountain.
"We eventually located the two guys, in a very poor condition, and had to positively motivate them across an ice slope where they had just seen their colleague slip to his death.
"It was a blizzard – white-out conditions – so I had to stand down slope to hold their legs, to get them across a gully. Then we discovered there was another gully to cross.
"At this point I almost gave up. I thought we were stuck and we would have to hunker down. But conditions were so bad we had to something."
Duncan motivated the guys across the second gully, before finding a path – usually two metres wide – that was a mere 30 centimetres in width due to the extreme level of snow.
While leading the group down the mountain, Duncan was caught by a gust of wind. He slipped 30 metres, briefly believing he was falling to his death.
"I thought I had met my maker, but I managed to arrest the slide with an ice axe and get myself back up," he said. "I re-briefed myself and got back to the path.
"We met another group, picked up the seven who were hunkered down and went down the hill.
"Halfway down, I could see a shadow about 10 metres off the path. I discovered a man stuck on a boulder, who had given up. I invited him to join our group.
"The number of people helped varies from 11 to 22, but it was a team effort. We reunited after six hours, shared a manhug and went back to base. We still had 15 hours of our shift to go."
Duncan received the Emergency Services Award from SAS Who Dares Wins chief instructor Billy Billingham and singer Lulu.
Having only found out he was nominated two weeks ago, Duncan said the last two weeks have been more than just a whirlwind.
"The plan was to do a live link with This Morning and the other finalists to announce the winners," he explained. "But it was a set up and they walked in and did a live piece back to the programme from my work.
"We flew down to London on the Saturday to meet the other winners and get a brief from Ashley Banjo and Carol Vorderman. It was totally surreal.
"The award being presented to me by Billy Billingham and the words he said were humbling, given what he has done in the past.
"I've had a shed load of comments. I don't do social media, but there has been lots come in from various sources and it has been overwhelming."
As part of the programme, ITV interviewed climber Stephen McVeigh – one of the men that Duncan helped save.
Clearly emotional, he said: "It was almost game over for me, mentally. Duncan had a very stern word with me. He realised the danger we were all in at this point.
"I had lost all feeling in my legs and Duncan had to take my full weight. How he managed to find the strength is honestly beyond me.
"To think that someone would put himself in such danger to help you out is quite amazing.
"I will be forever grateful to him. The man saved my life. If it hadn't been for him I honestly don't think I'd have come off the mountain."
Duncan, though, was keen to ensure that credit for the rescue was shared among his team, as well as other groups that attended on that day.
Mountain rescue teams from Lochaber and Glencoe, Police Scotland's mountain rescue team, an aircraft from Prestwick and his own crew, Rescue 151.
He added: "Mountain rescue teams are volunteers, unpaid, so they step up quite regularly.
"Sometimes you have to step up and Steve (who went up the mountain with Duncan) is a good example of that. He wasn't expecting to be brought in to help but was brilliant. So it's the public as well as the emergency services."
While scores were brought to safety, a 28-year-old man lost his life on Ben Nevis that day.
Duncan added: "Ben Nevis is one of the few mountains where you start at sea level, so the weather is not the same at 4400 feet. You can get snow in summer and people can be caught out.
"The most important thing is to tell people where you are going – we are still looking for numerous people that we haven't been able to locate."
In addition to his Pride of Britain Award, Duncan was honoured with a Billy Deacon SAR Memorial Trophy, while the crew received the Guild of Air Pilots Award.
The Pride of Britain Awards are available to watch on the ITV Player.
