A long and another highly memorable 10 hour day. Not quite what we were expecting...My first call to assist in an emergency.
There were several groups of us all wondering up the Aonachs, but with different aims in mind. Myself and another chap had wanted to add Carm Mor Dearg to our day's tally. Rather ambitiously considering the very long day we'd had the day before. Half way up the colossal mass of Aonach Beag we found a plateaux where some of the group were building a snow hole to spend the night in. Following a snowball fight and a gazillion photos across to the Ring of Steall, we continued up in single file, zig zagging our way up until the terrain narrowed and began to flatten out. From Aonach Beag (again, more photo shoots of the whole area) we descended steeply down to the col and back up to the long summit ridge of Aonach Mor. It was mid afternoon by now and our number was lessened as various parties had split off to do their own thing. Now only myself and Al were left. We retraced our steps back to the col between the Aonachs and started the very steep ascent to the col between this slab and CMD. I admit completely that we had over-estimated our fitness battling such deep snow the day before, and under-estimated the sheer distances of the Aonachs. The snow we were descending was patchy and very greasy and very slow going. I made the decision to head straight back to the hut once we reached the col and forget CMD. That's when we heard the 6 whistle blasts coming from somewhere near the summit of CMD. We stood in silence and listened again and it was repeated. We yelled across the valley and could just make out voices. Well, we had to go up and see if we could help if we could. My reasoning was that I was still confident in getting back to the hut in the dark, we'd intended to go up there in the first place, and it could have been us calling for help.
The scramble up was hard going. The light was fading. But we were spurred on by adrenaline. What state would these people be in? We got to just below two army lads who were about 50m from the summit of CMD. I could have touched their boots, but a very steep slab meant I had to go round a fair way to safely get to them. They had no ice axe between them, no crampons, no helmets, very little in fact. One of the boys was going hypothermic and looked in a bad way. What we didn't know was that the third member of their group had gone off several hours ago to get help. Presumably they were getting frightened sitting there alone, getting colder when they saw us and whistled in fright. I gave them a group bothy I was carrying, but there was nothing more we could have done. We were ourselves exhausted. But at that moment a Sea King flew up from Glen Nevis and started circling around us. I waved frantically and pointed to the two lads. A ladder was dropped. We didn't have time to stand around watching. The rotors of the copter was starting to loose boulders and we quickly put climbing helmets on and started possibly the fastest descent ever (without falling or bumsliding). it was very steep and for the most part we faced the hill, using axes.
When we got back to the hut, the rest of the club were having kittens. They knew we had planned to go to CMD, and someone had spotted the rescue helicopter circling around the summit and not surprisingly had thought it was Al and I. When we got back to Fort William the next day, we asked about the lads and whether they were OK. But didn't get much news or out group shelter back. But I sure as hell learnt a lot that day. Never to underestimate distance in difficult terrain for one.
- Significant mountains (Munros)
- Navigation skills - mainly in route planning and altering the plans.
- My knowledge was increased and skills practiced - first involvement in an incident
- Attention paid to safety - were we safe? Putting helmets on to descent (fast) and appropriately from CMD when the helicopter came in
- Over 5 hours
- UK winter mountain terrain
- Crampons carried, ice axes used
Area :
Ben Nevis & Aonach Mor (Fort William To Loch Leven)
This area covers the mountains between Fort William, Loch Leven (to the south) and Loch Treig (to the east). The area includes Ben Nevis and Carn Mor Dearg, The Mamores, The Aonachs and The Grey Corries. An impressive 20 Munros are split equally by Glen Nevis and the waters of Abhainn Rath. Relatively accessible from the A82, these mountains hold some classic walking and climbing routes such as The Ring of Steall in the Mamores and Point Five Gully on Ben Nevis. Includes all major peaks above 600m.
