Last weekend an accident befell 6 people out in the
mountains above Glencoe, experienced and careful a slab of snow gave way
beneath them and while two survived and were rescued by Glencoe Mountain Rescue
Team (MRT) with the help of Lochaber MRT
and a Royal Navy helicopter, the other four sadly didn’t survive the avalanche.
I heard this news on Saturday afternoon after returning from
riding my local trails in the snow and I briefly chatted to a mate who was
concerned about his friend who may have been climbing in the area.
My thoughts were not only with those involved in the accident but with my friends
and ex colleagues at the Clachaig, which sits at the bottom of the Glen close
to Bidean nam Bian where the accident occurred. My time at the pub has left me
with some of my greatest memories and dear friends, it has also left me with
some more difficult memories, last Saturday was not the first nor I’m afraid
will it be the last time a minutes silence will be held in the Boots bar and prayers be held in a local church.
The mountains can be a dangerous place and the things we do
in the mountains don’t make them any safer, be that climbing, skiing, kayaking
or mountain biking or any other sport that takes place in these beautiful high
places or in the glens between them. We still go out there and do these sports
because we enjoy them and it’s that or sit at home in fear of the outdoors. We
know the risks and assess them as we go along making calls as to whether we can
achieve something or not whether to turn back or carry on and most importantly
whether something is safe for us. On top of this we carry protection in many
different forms from helmets to throw lines and any other item of safety
equipment relevant to our chosen pursuit. However sometimes all this is not
enough and if it all goes wrong the last thing you hope for is the local MRT,
just the day before this accident there had been a successful rescue from Stob
Chor nan Lochan in the same group of mountains.
As charitable self funded organisations these volunteers do
their best to have best equipment and training and drop what they’re doing and
put their own lives on the line to pull us out of trouble, they deserve our
utmost respect and gratitude.
On Sunday I had another conversation with my mate who said
his friend was among the fatalities, at the same time my friends at the
Clachaig were dealing with the press hovering for information, yes I know it’s
their job but it can feel horribly invasive at a very sad time. By Sunday evening some of the names of the
deceased had been released including Christopher Bell and Tom Chesters both
keen and well known and liked members of the mountain bike community.
What has been amazing has been the response of the Mountain
Bike community to this tragedy; Chris’ team mate Luke Bradley and 3 other
friends have decided to raise money for the local Mountain Rescue Teams
involved by racing as two teams in the Strathpuffer Challenge, this has been
passed around the online bike community and magazines like Dirt, Wideopen and
Singletrack have picked it up and at this time as it ticks from Tuesday to Wednesday the amount raised is a staggering £10,022.50. What a response!
My thoughts and sympathies are with all the friends and families
of those lost on that day as well as with the local community who have to come
to terms with such a saddening event on their doorstep and once more I offer my
respect to the MRT teams that deal with these situations the money raised by
this will no doubt be of great help to them. On top of this it’s heart warming
to see people come together in reaction to the loss of members of their sport
whether they knew them or like me had never met them.
