Tragedy, Charity and Community

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.