Glencoe avalanche – fatalities

Sobering stuff, latest word is that three climbers may have lost their lives at Bidean Nam Bian.

Thoughts go out to their familes.

A reminder that our sports often take us to hazardous places, anna and i were planning a climb there this weekend along with a wild camp in the Lost Valley, but she had to work 😕

BBC link

I suppose it is. No one every really thinks it will be them though, do they?

I always worry about my climbing friends when these come up. I wouldn’t say the risk of dying like this is 3/4 of the reason why people do it though!

I think it’s worse than the BBC are reporting. Party of 6 rather than a party of 5 according to http://www.grough.co.uk/magazine/2013/01/19/glencoe-climbers-feared-dead-after-major-avalanche-on-bidean-nam-bian

Avalanche risk didnt look too bad either according to http://www.sais.gov.uk/page_glencoe.asp

I too was considering a walk up there this weekend.

Six on the police website. All off the hill now, no further details.

I’ve narrowly missed being buried by a Cornice Collapse there – was climbing in a very warm Easter, when it was way too warm when a Cornice went, taking the gulley with it – was like standing next to Niagara Falls – the sound was incredible. When we came down, we’d just missed being buried / crushed by an enormous amount of snow. Sobering stuff.

According to Northern Constabulary update: 2 male & 2 female climbers were found by searchers and have now been pronounced dead. A third female in a serious condition. The 6 member (male) of the team, who raised the alarm, is safe and well. No further details know.

That’s terribly sad, it’s always one of those things that you only imagine happening in high alpine regions, like the Alps, Rockies, Himalayas, etc.
it’s always good to remember that any mountain, at any time, can be lethal. Thoughts go to the families and friends of those who lost their lives. 🙁

Sad news- one of the men killed is a member of this forum. I’m not going to say more now until some more of his friends know.

oh no. 😕

hmmm.It hurts to lose someone like this.

My deepest thoughts with family and friends of all involved.

Play safe.

Such horrible news. My thoughts and condolences to the families and friends of the fallen.

Very sad indeed, thoughts are with the families and friends.

I climb in the area, always check the avi risk reports, I feel the need to reconsider what I would deem as acceptable conditions.

Seems they went climbing even though there were specific warnings of avalanches in the area…

B R- incorrect.

The avalanche risk forecast for yesterday is given in the link up there. But to summarise it, it was low below 800m with localised moderate patches, and moderate above 800m with localised patches of considerable avalanche risk on West through North to East facing slopes.

It was not unreasonable to go out in those conditions and basically, if you didnt go out in those conditions you’ve rarely go out. It is a reasonalby narrow gully that avalanched and the snow depth was not very deep at all.

br – probably the wrong thread to debate conditions and decisions. We don’t know exactly what happened yet.

My thoughts and condolences are with the families concerned.

Sad news, sympathies to all those involved

I guess it’s easy to forget that there are some truly wild places left on our little island, and venturing into them can carry a severe penalty if things go wrong.

My sincere condolences to all affected.

B R- incorrect.

I’ll stand corrected, but I’d only just read just and was commenting to my wife how surprised I was on the number of Scottish avalanches, have spent many years climbing here in my youth, and never really hearing of one then:

The tragedy occurred after the Scottish Avalanche Information Service (SAIS) issued a warning that “human-triggered avalanches are likely” in the Glencoe area.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/four-climbers-die-in-glencoe-avalanche-8458863.html

It’s always devastating when people lose their lives in climbing accidents, the feeling that it could be me next time is ever present.

Avalanche forecast looks fine for this time of year, I’ve been out in worse, and wouldn’t consider isolated patches of considerable a significant danger to an experienced party – poorly bonded windslab is a fact of life for winter in Scotland and appears in the avalanche forecasts 99 times out of a 100 I’d guess.

It looks like, and is normal in Scottish winter accidents, that the avalanche didn’t harm them in and of itself (like an alpine avalanche might bury you) it’s the falling down the rocky gully/crag that does the damage.

Having got off lightly from being knocked off low on number 3 gully buttress a few years ago by an avalanche/cornice collapse I know how easy it is to happen, we were lucky none of us were roped together and this limited the distance we fell (one of the party of 4 wasn’t even touched) and only one of us (me) went over anything rocky.

Gutted to hear this , my condolences to all the families effected b y this news

I’ll stand corrected, but I’d only just read just:

The tragedy occurred after the Scottish Avalanche Information Service (SAIS) issued a warning that “human-triggered avalanches are likely” in the Glencoe area.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/four-climbers-die-in-glencoe-avalanche-8458863.html

They issue warnings like this every day, rarely does any part of all the forecasts across scotland not include a section which is not ‘considerable’ on the scale – certainly not on a day when it’s worth getting out! however, this warning is for a specific, isolated patches of windslab, these form in specific places and are a perfectly manageable risk for people with experience.

I think it’s possible that the fact that Wales and England don’t have any kind of forecast might mean the reporting of the realities of the risks were better covered in the media – as it stands, they copy and paste the ‘warnings’ (it’s a forecast, like the weather, you know) that are issued as if there was a particular danger on that day, which they have ignored, which is almost certainly not true, I’ve never met anyone out on the hill in winter that I didn’t think had a full grasp of the dangers, and an awareness of how to manage them – it’s not a nice place to be if you’ve got no idea…

b1galus- please can you call Oli as soon as you can?

Really sad to read this on the BBC news website this morning.
Had hoped it wouldnt be anyone on here as I know there are alot of climbers who bike as well.
Condolences to family and friends of anyone caught in this . I have witnessed the power of alpine avalanches first hand and so am fully aware of the speed and power of ‘abit of snow’
RIP all

devestated. i know 3 of the people. one of them was my best mate.

Just tragic.. condolences HM and everyone that knew them

devestated. i know 3 of the people. one of them was my best mate.

So so sorry to hear that hungry 😥

Very tragic accident. Thoughts are with the families of those killed and wishing a full recovery for the lady in hospital.

It sounds like those with local knowledge were worried about the risks which were perhaps higher than anyone realised given the warning was only the 3rd highest of 4.
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/four-climbers-die-in-glencoe-avalanche-1546426

Edit – sorry to hear that hungry

Sorry to hear of your loss hungry monkey.

neninja – Hamish Macinnes is one of the greatest nountaineeers in history who happens to live in Glencoe and has lived there for a very long time. To simply describe him as being one of those with local knowledge is not a fair tack to take. He will have greater knowledge about what the conditions will be like in Glencoe than anyone else on the planet. He may have not chosen to go out in those conditions, but he has way more than the avalanche forecast and conditions on the ground to go on.

Also the forecast was 2 with patches of 3 on a scale of 5 not 4.

There is no reason to think that those killed were negligent in any way shape or form.

Hungry Monkey that’s terrible news – look after yourself.

Very sad news and condolences to the relatives and to you HM.

nothing else to add to what others have said. Horrible thing to happen.

Terrible news. Condolences to all affected.

Sorry to hear about your friends hungry monkey. Sincere condolences to all on here who knew them.

Condolences from our house too. Thoughts go out to all who knew them, and hope that the survivors are able to recover fully. Terrible news.

Hungry monkey and I each got a terrible phone call this morning from one of our friends who heard the news on the radio and did the maths. HM is one of the casualties’ best friend so I felt it better he should speak first.

I only knew one of the men and he was a truly superb man, an excellent cyclist and a lover of the outdoors as well as being one of my very best friends. Pretty distressing day for all those in our cycling club who knew him. These were only young people.

Tragic news. Thoughts go out to all family and friends.

Guys, sorry to hear about your loss.

Absolutely devastated. I was with him on Friday night and he was in great spirits and was excited for catching up with friends in Glencoe. He was such a great guy who had achieved a lot within amateur Scottish cycling and otherwise. He will be missed by hundreds of people I’m sure. My thoughts go out to all the other friends and families affected by the tragedy and my thanks to mountain rescue and police for their help and support.