ahead and downhill of the remaining five. The leader, who was in the van, started to lead his people away from the danger area but at this point the others tried to catch them up. The first man came glissading down the slope but he was unable to stop. He lost control, then he lost his axe and they watched him disappear over the edge.

Behind him a second man came running down the slope, kicking steps. He too lost control and disappeared. Behind, in quick succession, came two more men and a girl. All lost control and all slid over the edge and out of sight.

When they had recovered (and the shock was so great that one of the watchers lost his balance and nearly followed them) one of three surviving men traversed off the slope with the two remaining girls. The other three men roped up and moved to the edge, but they could see nothing. There was no sound from below.

They descended into Coire Leis where they found the five bodies. They had fallen a thousand feet.

This was the most shocking accident that the Ben had seen. What made it worse was that at least three people had fallen on the same slope, one fatally. The SMC did much to publicise the accidents and the danger of the locality in their journal, and the line of poles was erected to keep people on the correct route when descending to the arête.

Through successive winters mountaineers observed with relief that publicity and the poles were having the desired effect. The slope began to lose its sinister aspect. Seven years passed and the horror of the Lossiemouth disaster faded. New climbs went up on the back of the North-East Buttress. One, Cresta, followed the line of all from the convex slope. One could hope that no person would go wrong again with the poles to point him down to Coire Leis; only an unforeseen event (or ignorance of the purpose of the poles!) could result in another accident where at least six people had died.

And the unforeseen even occurred.

In February 1962 a party of boys had nearly reached the summit when one dropped his axe. It slid down the convex slope and lodged. The master in charge climbed down and retrieved it.

The ice was like glass. As he started to return he slipped. Even with two axes (or perhaps because of them) he could do nothing to stop himself. He fell Continue to page 11