on the mountain. His story was interesting.

He had reached the top of the ski-lift at 12.0 p.m. on March 1st and had skied near-by by until roughly 4.0 p.m. About three o'clock the weather had started to deteriorate. Thick cloud came down and the other skiers descended. He admitted he should have followed their example, but he had confidence in finding his own way down, and - at four o'clock - he took off his skis and walked in the direction of the top of the lift. Within fifteen minutes he was lost.

He started walking in circles, looking for the top station. After an hour or so, with the light failing, he went over a ridge to try to find some shelter from the bitter wind. He carried no map, compass or whistle, and when he went down a corrie to shelter above Loch Avon he was quite ignorant of his position. Loch Avon was frozen and covered with drifted snow, bearing no resemblance to water. He dug a hole in the lee of a rock but it was too cold to sleep and he paced backwards and forwards all night.

At 5.0 am on the second day he made an attempt to get back to the northern side of Cairngorm, but the snow was so deep he couldn't always make progress on foot. At times he was forced to climb on skis. Visibility was bad and the wind was in the north. By the afternoon he had climbed some distance out of the corrie when, at a point where he happened to be carrying his skis, he slipped on a patch of ice. As he fell he was completely relaxed, past caring for the consequences, and perhaps because of this he suffered no injury, but he lost his spectacles, his skis and a mitten. He had fallen and rolled between one hundred and three hundred feet.

When he had stopped moving he lay on the snow form some time, deeply depressed over the loss of his gear (the loss of his spectacles must have been the worst below); and coming to the conclusion that his chances of getting out alive were remote.

But he got up eventually and walked down to Loch Avon. By now it was dark for the second time. Throughout the first part of the night he tried to lose consciousness but was prevented by the spasmodic jerking of his body. At 1.0 am he decided to climb Cairngorm again.

After many rests he managed to do this and daylight found him walking on top. But visibility was still bad and the wind bitterly cold. In his condition he was unable to cope with the weather and he retreated again - into Coire Raibert but still unaware which corrie he was in. Continue to page 21