eighteen hours after he had fallen. He had died of multiple injuries and exposure.

When a man has to be left lying on a snow-slope, or even on a cliff, and the site may be difficult to find again, an axe may be stuck in the ground as a marker, but one still more effective could be to tie the rope to the casualty (who should be belayed with another rope or slings so that he cannot crawl away in delirium) and stretched for its full length across the slope, rather on the principle of the fine red line which skiers trail across avalanche slopes. There is more chance that the searchers will stumble on part of the 120 foot length in the darkness than on the body.

After Hill, died, a red tin shelter was erected in the corrie. It is small and bare, furnished with two wooden benches and a biscuit box or two. In the boxes are self-heating soup, bandages and matches. Of course, there is no form of heating, but it is shelter; it possesses a door which will shut out the storm, keeping off the bitter wind which saps morale to such an extent that a man will invite death in order to escape. It might have made all the difference to Hill.

However, it is not beyond the bounds of probability that one day the soup will be stolen and the hut wrecked by vandals as may befall the other two shelters on the summit of the Ben and on Carn Dearg. The powerful binoculars, so necessary on a rescue, have been stolen from the hut below - and the First Aid boxes at innumerable open rescue posts are periodically wrecked and rifled by hooligans.

The slope immediately below and to the east of the summit of the Ben is so notorious that most people manage to circumvent it nowadays without incident. Publicity again - and 'the poles' - keep them away from the edge. A line of poles points the true direction to take from the ruined observatory if one is descending to the Carn Mor Dearg arête and Coire Leis.

The geography - and the danger - simply, is this. From the summit of Ben Nevis a shoulder - narrowing to a ridge - curves leftwards in a wide sweep down to the arête. Curve is the operative word, for the great temptation, even in clear weather, is to cut the corner, particularly if one comes out due east from the observatory as the map suggests is feasible. Seeing the arête below, one tends to disregard the great bite that the cliff makes in this line. But perhaps even this mistake would not be fatal if it could be remedied in time. The opportunity for remedy is nevertheless limited, for if the climber, still close to the summit, can see the arête below, he is in considerable danger, perhaps already committed. Continue to page 8