Banachdich. The cloud was down, making the search both difficult and hazardous. The search parties met at the Inaccessible Pinnacle where the missing man was last seen. No trace of him had been found.

At 5.45 pm Kinloss arrived under Dattner. They searched from 7.10 pm until midnight, again concentrating on the head of Coire na Banachdich, but without success.

The following day some went round to Loch Coruisk on the other side of the Cuillin by boat, and returned over Bealach Coire na Banachdich. Conditions were so bad that they had to rope over this easy pass. It is an interesting fact that when gales are so bad that climbers will not venture out, let alone climb on the Cuillin Ridge, the mountain rescue men have to go - a compulsion of conscience, not of fact. Because they survive the gale on the ridge doesn't mean it wasn't as bad as the amateurs imagined, but that these men are tougher than one thinks.

During this second day a body was glimpsed in a gully three to five hundred feet below the summit of Sgurr Dearg and on the Coruisk side. It was seen from above. Although the searchers knew that other parties were below (from where the body might be more accessible) they were unable to communicate. Dattner, searching along the ridge, was aware that something important was coming through on the walkie-talkie set but the static was so bad that it was completely incomprehensible. However, he did manage to make out a six-figure map reference, but couldn't tell whether he was being asked to search, or that the missing man had been seen there. In any event, the co-ordinate was corrupt; it marked a position in the sea. He decided to return to Glen Brittle as fast as possible to find out what had happened.

The weather was still bad and when he heard the result of the search, his first reaction was to wait until morning before venturing back on the ridge. But then he thought there was a remote chance that Phillips was still alive so, after a meal, the team went back.

They arrived on the ridge and Dattner sent a small party down the gully to examine the body. They found, as had been expected, that the man was dead and they returned to the glen, reaching the camp site at 1.0am.

The following day it snowed (not unusual on the Cuillin even in June). It was intensely cold and visibility was down to thirty yards. The body was recovered from the gully, but not without considerable difficulty and danger. Large boulders were being dislodged constantly and these threatened the workers below, although no one was hurt seriously. The stretcher party returned to Glen Brittle with the body at 4.30 pm.

It was assumed that Phillips had walked off the notorious 'False Ridge'. If he was not particularly experienced, he may have been unaware of its existence. Probably, after passing the S.M.C. party, he was making for Bealach Coire na Banachdich and the easy descent into the corrie. From Sgurr Dearg the path for the bealach goes off rather indefinitely down scree to the left; the wrong track (well nail-marked where countless people have made the same mistake but retreated when they became aware of it) leads straight to the top of the False Ridge with its sudden drop of several hundred feet to the screes. The inexperienced man may take the top of this drop for a normal step in the main ridge, and - starting to descend optimistically - find himself committed to rock far harder than he can manage, when the inevitable slip occurs. It is a trap similar to that above the Parson's Nose on Snowdon. The Continue to Page 4