slower, ride in the ambulance. The aircraft couldn't land on the mountain anyway, where it would have been of primary importance in saving the long and uncomfortable journey to the valley.

The accident happened about 2.30 pm. Although the rescue was carried out with all possible speed, five and a half hours elapsed between the time of the fall and the casualty reaching the ambulance. He was rushed to hospital where the leg was amputated in time to save his life. He recovered surprisingly quickly and never exhibited any bitterness towards the mountain, mountain rescue (which, if it saved his life, might have been said to have jeopardised it in the first place), or the fantastic piece of ill-luck which saw that he landed on one rock - where he could have escaped with a graze - to be mangled by another. He was invalided out of the Service and, according to rumour, married and was last heard of running a garage in Aberdeen.

It may seem remarkable that such a huge piece of rock should move when thousands of people must have been in its vicinity, of not actually touching it, within the last fifty years. But I have often noticed strange blocks lying on ledges on the east face of Tryfan, and investigation reveals a new, raw scar some distance above. They slip down at night when everyone has left, or even in the daytime, unobserved. You have the feeling that, if you turned suddenly, you would see one moving. Continue to Chapter 4