Presentation recounts Scottish climbers' bloody encounter with grizzly bear near Banff

Two years after being attacked by a grizzly bear while scaling Mount Wilson in Banff National Park, twoScottish climbers Greg Boswell and Nick Bullock have returned to Alberta to tell the tale.

The pair are part of the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival on Saturday, wherethey are hostinga sold-out presentation of Bullock, Boswell and the Bear at the Banff Centre. The presentation recounts their bloody encounter with a grizzly in December 2015 that saw the animal sink its teeth into Boswell's leg, leaving several puncture wounds.

Boswell and Bullock, who are well-known on the European climbing scene, set off on a frigid morning two years ago the temperature was sitting around 20 C snowshoeing their way up a route known as Dirty Love, exploring the trail in preparation for more climbs later that week.

• British climbers narrowly escape grizzly attack in Banff National Park

It was when they were making their way back down as dusk approached, that they ran into the grizzly.

"Nick, my climbing partner, was just in front of me, and something randomly made me look over my shoulder. As I looked over my shoulder, running, full pace toward me through the thick snow was a grizzly bear," Boswell told The Homestretch on Friday.

Despite being experienced in the outdoors, Boswell said bear protocolswent out the window at that point and he did what you're not supposed to do run.

"The only thing that went through my mind was try and put some distance between me and the bear that's running toward me," he said.

"I shouted 'bear' to let Nick know, then I went to run, fully forgetting that we'd taken our snowshoes off and we were walking on a trail we had already [made]through the deep snow. So as I stepped off that trail to run, I just went up to my waist in deep snow and just basically fell over face-first into the snow."

He tried to get up but the animal was on him and bit his leg.

"As it came toward me I kicked out with my right foot and it grabbed my boot and kind of threw my leg to the side and grabbed my right leg in its mouth and just started tugging at it basically," he said.

"I was screaming for Nick. I was just screaming and screaming. I heard my leg, almost like a popping noise but there was never any pain, obviously the adrenaline had kicked in, but the noise, I thought 'that's my leg broken,' in my head."

Boswell punched and slapped the bear with one hand while hitting it with a walking pole with the other, which got the bearto let go.

"I'll never forget the look on its face, it just looked so unbelievably confused, I'm there screaming and my [head lamp] was beaming it straight in the eyes," he said.

"It looked puzzled ... it ran over my chest, downhill, basically. I got up straight away, and was like, 'Jesus, my leg still works.' That was the first thing that went through my head. I turned around and looked and saw the bear running off."

That allowed the pair to make their escape, walking back to their car then driving to hospital in Banff.

"I got quite a few stitches, 30-40 stitches in my leg," said Boswell. "Five or six puncture wounds, but not broken."

Looking back, Boswell says he doesn't blame the bear, nor is he afraid of being in the outdoors.

"It was just the wrong place at the wrong time. It doesn't affect my head climbing at all," he said. "I was a bit affected that season. Then the next year, which would have been last year, I just got on with it. I love being in the mountains."

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With files from The Homestretch