UKC

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/9862315/Six-walkers-missing-in-hellish-cond...

Apologies if I'm duplicating a thread.

The DT report missing walkers from Leeds in the Caingorms in what are reported to be very testing conditions.

In reply to DNS: BBC reporting 5 of them found and flown off the mountain

In reply to DNS: Sadly the sixth member of the group died.

Waiting for more info as I'm at Leeds Uni and a friend was up in the Cairngorms this weekend but I don't know if he was with the same group.

http://news.stv.tv/highlands-islands/213466-search-under-way-for-six-hillwa...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-21409600

In reply to DNS:

It seems there was orignally 7 in the group. One had a fall on Sunday at 3pm and was rescued by MRT with the remaining 6 left to make their own way off the hill. Contact was made with the group at 12:10pm Monday and 5 were recovered from a hill near Carn Tarsuinn. Shortly after, a body was recovered from the Jacob's Ladder area.

My thoughts are with the family of the deceased. It sounds like the 5 survivors had a horrendous night. They must have been very lost to end up where they did.

In reply to DNS:

Very sad. It sounds as though conditions are horrendous

In reply to DNS: the news said -30 and blizzard conditions

the only Carn Tarsuinn in the area to my knowledge is about 10km to the NE of jacobs ladder, with 2 munros in the way. is this shoddy reporting or were they actually all in a single group?

In reply to punj:

I wondered that myself, but the Northern Constabulary website gives the same details, although it sounds like the body was recovered from Jacob's Ladder after they located the party of 5. Sad news whatever the circumstances - must have been bloody awful trying to get down off the hill given the conditions yesterday.

In reply to Ditch_Jockey: yeah, awful news whatever the case.

In reply to Trangia:

For once, the summit weather station seems to have been working so we have a good idea of the local conditions. It was bad, but certainly not exceptional.

Yesterday at 1518hrs on Cairngorm summit it was Severe Gale Force 9, nearing Storm Force 10:
- Mean windspeed 54.3mph
- Max windspeed 60.5mph
- Min Windspeed 46.8mph
- Wind direction 5.7 degrees
- Temperatures -5.8 degrees

Highest overnight windspeeds were at 2048hrs when it was Severe Storm Force 11:
- Mean windspeed 70.9mph
- Max windspeed 78.9mph
- Min Windspeed 60.5mph
- Wind direction 286.3 degrees
- Temperatures -5.4 degrees

Today at 1218hrs it was just Gale Force 8.
- Mean windspeed 38.0mph
- Max windspeed 44.0mph
- Min Windspeed 30.3mph
- Wind direction 11.0 degrees
- Temperatures -6.4 degrees

In reply to DNS:

Tragic news once again. Still trying to get my head round if they were the same group as said above. I am interested to hear the story as I think its important to understand what happened so we can all learn from it.

S

In reply to The Ex-Engineer:

I think the wind speed stats may not do justice to how bad conditions were last night. Extremely bad visibility even to low level with airborne snow.

In reply to DNS: Extremely sad to hear this. seems to be too common an event this winter. Conditions sounded terrible, it shows that winter navigation is an equally, if not more, important skill to master than just technical climbing. I don't know the details but its a reminder that winter conditions in Scotland can be extremely difficult.

In reply to telemarker:

It is a tricky balance, on previous posts on the recent incidents, there was criticism of those who posted condolences for ' people they did not know' and they also advised that now is not the time to ask too many questions or speculate. Everyone has their own view.

I was out and about at Glenmore lodge on Saturday,and the weather was fairly benign, but visibility was pretty poor( despite a better forecast than what we got, Saturday was to be the better day of the weekend.

We saw the helicopter out as we set off, and I spoke to the MRT at Ryvoan bothy, and they told me had just picked up a couple that had been out overnight and they were apparently fine.
( not sure why they were caught out, and did not get back as planned, but it was just good to hear they were ok, and I did not ask for any more details.)

As others have posted, this particular group do seem to have been reported to have been a long way from where they were expected to be, only they know why. Maybe in time, we may hear a bit more, and see then if there are lessons to learn, or perhaps it was just bad luck.

In reply to DNS: The chap who has died, whose name hasn't yet been officially released, was a hugely experienced walker who'd contributed enormously to the club over a long membership. He probably did more to introduce new members to the pleasures of hillwalking than anyone else in the club and helped a great many nervous beginners take their first steps into the hills. He'll be greatly missed.

As an aside, he could also drink me under the table and had literally the worst taste in music. I will miss both these things.

In reply to DNS: We were out in Sneachda on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday was beautiful but the conditions on Sunday were grim. We backed off on the approach to Aladdin's Buttress after digging a pit as there was pretty significant slab build up and headed over to the other side of the coire. We couldn't even find Fiacaill Buttress in the cloud so opted for the ridge, staying on the easy ground, then walked out in near zero visibility. I remember thinking on the way out how easy it would be to get lost. Condolences to all those affected.

In reply to Andy Moles:
Aye Andy a tragedy no doubt contributed to by the weather. Got lost on the plateau this month in a howler, it was so easy to do. We could not tell up from down so being stuck all night in that must horrendous.

In reply to DNS: His name has now been released. Brief report here: http://www.ukhillwalking.com/news/item.php?id=67819

In reply to Dan Bailey - UKHillwalking.com: Take it easy Graham.

In reply to DNS:

Some more details in the Scotsman:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/scottish-news/top-stories/dead-cairngorms-clim...

In reply to Lemony: I can't really add much to Sam's post. Graham was one of a kind. He will be deeply missed

Mark

cant believe that only one person had a map and unfortunatly it was the man that fell. the rest of the group are very lucky to come out of this unhurt.