Rescue team members with the tracked vehicle used in the incident. Photo: Cairngorm MRT
A simple omission by a group of climbers could have cost them their lives after they got lost in a blizzard in the Cairngorms.
Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team spent five hours searching for the three mountaineers and bringing them to safety on Wednesday night.
Team leader Willie Anderson said: “The party were excellently equipped but forgot their map.
“Despite having the best of gear, this simple omission could have cost them their lives. Nowadays mountaineers spend huge sums of money on tremendous gear, but it’s the few quid spent on a basic map and compass that is often the best investment.”
Eight Cairngorm MRT members used the team’s tracked Can-Am vehicle to transport themselves up Cairn Gorm, then continued on foot to find the lost climbers on the mountain’s plateau about 3,500ft up.
The rescuers fought snow and bad visibility to locate the group in the dark.
Mr Anderson said: “It was not a night to spend out on the tops.”
OldManOgTheHills
30 December 2017The idea of a winter climber having neither navigational skill nor map appalls me: what is their route finding on the crag like? Cairngorm is a sub-artic plateau which is why the Northern Corries or Hells Lum offer such good winter routes so snow and wind should hardly be unexpected.
Looking at the recent rescue in Jacobs Ladder I wish media would broadcast the effort needed to rescue such fools, and the sheer stupidity that required many such rescues.