Winter has come and the team had a very
difficult
callout in the Cairngorms in November. The team had just returned
from a great winter weekend at Crianlarich a long 3-hour drive after
a days work but worth the effort. The weather was magnificent and
it was the usual eye-opener to us all, very deep snow made it hard
work!
After a really hard weekend we were asked to assist in a search
for 2 missing climbers in the Cairngorms early on the Monday morning.
Two young climbers aged 18 and 23 set out to climb in Coire An’t
Sneachda the (Corrie of the snows) they had set out on the Sunday
to climb a snow and ice route and had not returned. Our friends
in the Cairngorm team had gone out when they were reported missing.
The weather on that night was incredibly wild. Winds of over 100
mph were recorded and blizzard conditions on the mountains. The
Cairngorm team, amazingly in such conditions got up to the climb
where the missing climbers were last reported. Their ropes were
still attached to the cliff but there was no sign of them! There
were signs of an avalanche unfortunately due to the conditions and
time of night, not much could be done. They had a look round and
they had to battle back down the Corrie. Conditions were worse,
and the local team had a real battle getting back to base.
The Kinloss Mountain Rescue Team arrived at Glenmore Lodge near
Aviemore at first light and was immediately transported
by R137 from Lossiemouth into the incident. The conditions were
still awful winds on the summit of Cairngorm were recording 120
mph. R137 was amazing and got Cairngorm, Kinloss and the Search
and Rescue Dogs SARDA into the Corrie. There were a few wide eyes
after our flight in! The walk up to the avalanche was fairly hard
with strong gust of 60 at times 80 mph blowing us about. Both Mountain
Rescue teams searched the avalanche site for a couple of hours,
the wind and spindrift made the task really difficult. To check
each member carries an avalanche probe it is a slow progress methodically
checking the snow for any signs of life. All the time the Avalanche
threat to the teams is high and you have to ensure you leave some
team members as lookouts in case another avalanche occurs. After
2 hours of searching with nothing found the weather and danger to
teams was assessed as too great and we moved away from the Avalanche
site to search another safer area.
Avalanche search in Coire an’T Sneachda
As we were about to move R137 spotted one of the climbers not far
off the path about one mile from the car park. All the teams moved
down the Corrie to assist and as R137 took the casualty to hospital
one of the SARDA Dogs found the other casualty. Both casualties
were soon in hospital but unfortunately were pronounced dead on
arrival. Due to the weather conditions both casualties had died
of exposure, they had got off the climb but died on the way out,
a terrible tragedy. Both casualties were about 15 minutes from the
road and safety but had succumbed to the conditions, a sombre reminder
of the power of nature and what a winter storm can do. After such
a tragedy it is at times hard to see why the mountains have such
an effect
on people. It is a timely reminder to all mountaineers and team
members that the Scottish mountains in winter are an extremely harsh
environment to climb in.
Team training continues and we all enjoyed a great weekend at Ballater
near Braemar
on the East Coast a few of the team getting a winter climb in
and several parties managing some good
hill days. The team had a visit from one of the heroes of RAF
Mountain Rescue service Sgt
Rusty Bale of (Everest fame, he summited in 2001) came out as
a guest. He enjoyed the weekend including a night cycle back from
Ben Macdui and a long Sunday winter climbing on Lochnagar, a great
weekend for all. Hopefully Rusty has now had his appetite for the
team whetted and he will rejoin us soon.
The teams have some new
vehicles, a big change from the trusted
Landrovers that have been with us since the early days. We look
forward to seeing how they operate this winter with the teams.
This month we say farewell to Sgt Fergie Cliff, he has been promoted
and is off to RAF Fylingdales. Fergie is an outstanding mountaineer
and Party leader, totally unflappable one of the best. He will be
sorely missed; hopefully he will come back once he has served his
“penance” down South. As a farewell, Fergie has managed
along with 6 team members to go to Norway in early January ice climbing.
Two team members Sgt Tim Sugars RAF Lossiemouth and CT Mark Shewry
RAF Kinloss have successfully passed their Team Leader selection
at the Centre of Excellence at RAF Valley. This is a tremendous
achievement by both of them and a great boost to the team, well
done to both of you. Team members come and go but the team seems
in fine form with lots of team members of varied experience ready
to respond to whatever request.
That’s all the news from the team at present, have a great
New Year and thanks for everyone’s support for the team, we
look forward to a successful 2007.
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