UKC

Nigel Vardy has posted a blog on his web site. I was fortunate enough two weeks ago to survive an avalanche in the Cairngorms. Please read and make up your minds. The local press were from the truth on this one, the local rescue teams were absolutely brilliant and all three involved are humbled and grateful. My take on this is concise and detailed in the blog.

Jez

In reply to jez cawthorne: Here it is:

http://www.mrfrostbite.com/2013/02/10/aviemore-avalanches-and-an-oap-the-th...

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In reply to jez cawthorne: nice blog by Nigel and glad your ok after your ordeal

In reply to jez cawthorne:

Glad to hear your ok, I was one of the climbers going up the boulders to the right of you when the slope went. I managed to get some pictures of you being winched out as we sat with you, if you want them let me know and i will pass them on.
I know you were being pretty hard on yourself then, glad to hear its not put you off the hills!

In reply to jez cawthorne: hard to tell from the article, if he is saying that had his mate had crampons on they could have avoided the slab, by staying on neve and ice?

In reply to jez cawthorne:

Hi Jez,
Thanks for sharing your experience, and kudos for coming on here and starting this discussion. Sounds like you would do things differently if you had it again and thank goodness none of you were seriously hurt. If others can learn from your mishap then there may be lives saved down the line so its much appreciated.

I do have a question, would you have made the decisions you made if the coire had been empty and others hadn't been swarming up the snow slopes all around? I'm interested in how the presence of other climbers and walkers reinforces the perception of safety- generally- not in your case specifically.

I'm just back from a weekend in the Cairngorms and saw plenty of suspect decision making. Luckily as far as I'm aware everyone got away with the the days we were out.

Lucy

In reply to jez cawthorne:


Hi Jez,

I was one of the climbers that came after the avalanche aswell (Two guys from Dundee Uni). I think I sat with your friend James? in the emergency shelter until the helicopter came to evacuate you all. Glad to hear you all came away relatively unscathed and safe. Would just like to say thanks if it was you (or the MR team, or whoever it was) that returned my jacket and gloves to the police station in Aviemore after they were taken to Raigmore. I got them back the weekend before last and as a poor student was very grateful to have gotten them back!

In reply to Snoweider:


Heuristics ?

In reply to jez cawthorne: First class blog and a great perspective.

In reply to jez cawthorne:
thanks also for being public about posting this. Very well put and interesting to read real life example of decision making and what led up to the avalanche and the aftermath. As you say many others seemed to be making similar decisions. Glad you all survived to climb another day.

In reply to Scott_vzr:
As opposed to hysterics?

In reply to jez cawthorne: i may be missing the thrust of the blog, but got a sense of a moan at OTT press reporting? were the three news articles listed not fairly factual in this instance

In reply to jez cawthorne:

Useful stuff Jez, I'm not sure from the Blog but apart from the over dramatised press reports. Are you saying that the incident was caused by forgetting crampons and then continuing out up the hill by taking line on softer more dodgy snow rather than good neve?

In reply to John Workman:

John, starting to get really annoyed at this too - plain English please if you really want to educate the public and that includes me!

In reply to jez cawthorne:

Good write up. It often seems as though those who've had an accident were somehow careless/ suicidal. Nice to hear the other side. Keep climbing!