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Some lessons are learned the hard way Click here for photo gallery
I wonder how many times I have walked on avalanche prone slopes, safe in blissful ignorance, but in reality so near to disaster when a sneeze or vibrant fart could set the whole thing off? When my front points don’t stick in the solid snow, are the points blunt, or am I putting the boot in the wrong way?
The answer seemed to be to get educated by the best centre in the country. So, from the 9th to 16th of March 1976 I went to Glenmore Lodge to do the Winter Mountain Leadership Introductory Week. We had predictable lectures with a bonus one by Joe Tasker, and I, at least, had excellent instruction (thanks Ado). However, the course seemed to be changing its theme from the second day. Here’s a diary of disaster:
Sitrep from Rescue Centre: Lodge party in Coire an T-Snechda. Middle aged man tripped, slid over snow and rocks, lost ice axe (no wrist loop), sustained a fractured wrist. Same party; young man tripped over his crampons, slid over rocks, braked with ice axe on slope beneath. Sustained damaged pelvis.
Well, we thought, there’s bound to be 2 or 3 minor accidents out of 48 people on various courses in a week. By the “Law of Averages” the accidents have happened, no more are expected, we must be safe now.
A south west wind had been blowing the previous day and night. This wind lifts loose snow off the plateau and when it shoots over a ridge, it curls back on itself and so deposits its load of snow on the lee side of a ridge. Thus northern slopes and gullies had wind deposited loose snow resting on the old layer of very hard, smooth surfaced neve. We were told all this in a lecture the previous night, and had noticed the slopes becoming avalanche prone the previous day.
A Glenmore Lodge party went on that slope, presumably calculating that the new snow had stuck to the old neve. It hadn’t and the inevitable happened.
Sitrep: Young man on 100 ft. Runout on an easy slope, dislodges new snow layer from the old layer, and the resulting avalanche sweeps him in a big slide. His second holds him, but suffers a damaged wrist in doing so. The victim has a broken arm and leg.
There were 3 Lodge parties, each of 8 students and 2 instructors in adjacent Coire an Lochan. 2 students of one party guided by an instructor carried a stretcher from Jean’s hut over the ridge to the accident site. Two instructors plus six of our party speeded round the head of the Coire, over the ridge and down to the site to give aid. A minute or so behind us followed an instructor (maybe 2 instructors) plus six students of another party to assist in carrying the stretcher out. At the site it was too windy for the helicopter to land, so we prepared to carry the stretcher out and we awaited the party that were following us. Routine stuff so far.
Then the disaster. To get from Coire an Lochan to Sneachda meant crossing some avalanche prone slopes, but in an emergency to help save a life, the risk may be justified (do you think so?). We had crossed the slopes O.K. but the party that were following us were avalanched.
Sitrep: Six students avalanched in the Cairngorms. They were evacuated by long lowers from a winch on a helicopter and taken to Inverness infirmary.
More Lodge accidents would be politically embarrassing, so grade 1 gullies were cancelled and a navigation walk substituted. But weekends bring climbers from afar and the risk of avalanche may seem justifiable after a 300 mile dash ( we have all done it).
Sitrep: One pair of climbers tried to climb the snow & ice route Red Gully. The leader avoided the cornice via easier rocks on the left, and fell, possibly because a cornice collapsed or a snow slope gave way. He fell, hanging upside down, and even the kiss of life by his second couldn’t help him.
We arrived in a hurry. and Ado bombed up with skill and daring (sounds like Spiderman) and worked out the situation. The helicopter navigator recovered the body by a spectacular long lower and pendulum from the helicopter winch.
Sitrep for Winter Mountaineering Leadership Course: 1 fatality, 9 injured course members. Winter Mountaineering has high risks and some lessons are learned the hard way. An end of course group photo was inappropriate.
I seem to remember doing Red Gully with Stuart when avalanche debris littered the valley floor. We had travelled a long way, 7 hours in a banger car from Carlisle and needed to do something, enthusiasm exceeded experience and balanced judgement, but our luck was greater than our judgement.
I also remember in Glencoe when typical weather variations made the snow iffy. Kevin P and I were in youthful ignorance with a bit of trepidation in one my first Scottish winter experiences. The inevitable “let’s go and have a look” sort of hedged our bets on whether or not to do a gully, so we started over the lower slopes and saw a man on his own who admitted that he didn’t know the risk or what he was getting into. So we persuaded him to join us for mutual safety in case the snow gave way and we were avalanched.
Oops, I was walking behind Kevin P and ANO across a snow slope. Kev’s footsteps created a deep channel exposing the hard neve below with ANO deepening the channel and thus set off a fracture line and a chunk of windslab avalanche slid away exactly between Kevin and I, carrying the stranger on it. He didn’t slide very far and was unhurt, and we found it hilarious, but … we continued without him, he returned to the pub and the cold tents beside it.
One of the things about education is that it shows you how little you know. Just how near the limit have we been without realising it? I think the real enjoyment and challenge of climbing is to understand the objective dangers, eliminate as much of luck as possible, and so create the opportunity to investigate the abilities of body and mind through the medium of climbing. (sounds like a Zen religious technique)
Looking back on the lessons learned that week at Glenmore Lodge, I wondered about the wisdom of climbing in doubtful winter conditions. But enthusiasm runs to fanaticism too easily in all keen sports people, so risks are too easily justified. This justification must apply to us dashing up to Scotland on long weekends, or professional instructors trying to give us our money’s worth in a week which is for most, an unrepeatable holiday.
Maybe we should examine the stability of snow layers in a gully by digging a snow pit first. Maybe we should read books about it and learn weather patterns in relation to avalanche risk. Maybe we should always wear wrist loops on our ice axes (but some instructors say that would be wrong in case it flayed about in a fall). Certainly we should not trust to luck.
Although there were accidents, I cannot see much ground for serious criticism of the staff (but then I was not a victim) Please accept my recommendation of the instructors, centre and course as being a controlled, safe, and enjoyable way of learning about mountaineering in winter.
Pete Nicholson Click here for photo gallery
