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Lost in Lairig Ghru

Lost in Lairig Ghru


Postby rodderss » Fri Oct 22, 2021 8:28 am

The last one fair enough, this one seems a high level of unpreparedness.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-58993698
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Re: Lost in Lairig Ghru

Postby WalkWithWallace » Fri Oct 22, 2021 8:52 am

I don't like to judge, particularly when the information in the article is limited.
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Re: Lost in Lairig Ghru

Postby Bastonjock » Fri Oct 22, 2021 9:10 am

The good news reads that no one was injured
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Re: Lost in Lairig Ghru

Postby Moriarty » Fri Oct 22, 2021 9:18 am

It'll be interesting, in due course, to see MR stats for calls over the last few years. There's an impression of increased volume of call outs, particularly many lacking the self-reliance that Heavy Whalley was writing about in his recent blog.

On a selfish level I'm

a) Kind of glad I'm not in MR. :oops:

b) Worried that increasing pressure and disruption on the good people in MR may lead to recruitment/retention problems. Frankly I don't know how they do it!
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Re: Lost in Lairig Ghru

Postby Alex W » Fri Oct 22, 2021 11:04 am

It was said in the thread about Martin Wightman (is that his name) who was lost in the Cairngorms last weekend that it would be helpful to get a full report of how an accident happened so that you can learn from the mistakes. I always find it less painful and stressful to learn from the mistakes that others make rather than only learning from my own.

I would be slow to judge in all but the most blatantly reckless cases. We can all make mistakes (and I certainly have) and we can all be caught up in the unexpected.

This one seems a bit odd in that the conditions weren't that bad, in fact a bright moon on a clear and calm night might be an attractive time to choose to go for a walk. And its not easy to go off route in the Lairig Ghru (accepted that you can go wrong on the paths at the ends of it).

Thankfully I have never had to call out MR and I don't intend to change that any time soon, but I appreciate them being there.
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Re: Lost in Lairig Ghru

Postby Scraggygoat » Fri Oct 22, 2021 12:13 pm

I doubt there is much to learn, folks manage bizarre things either through stupidity or stress. Or plain dormancy.

I was sat at Corrour Bothy once when a party of 8 crossed the bridge and walk to the Bothy looking up at the Devils Point path they convinced themselves that since it was a well made path and it came from a bridge, and that the Ghru was the ‘only’ route, that it must be the top of the pass and Aviemore was beyond.

I was coming down the upper slopes of Ben Ghlas once when a party asked me if they were on the WH way.

Some people just follow anything, and if it’s no longer obvious they get stressed.

The path probably had a light dusting of snow through the boulders so it wasn’t obvious and they probably just convinced themselves they were wrong. Just like you and I in a white out encountering a feature not well represent on the map……once doubt creeps in, confidence can be lost quickly if you have no resilience.

There was a famous case of a couple whom B&Bing in Braemar decided to walk to Derry Lodge , then they decided to walk a bit farther. they decided that they’d made a mistake, but If they carried on they would must shortly reach a settlement. They walked all the way to Forest Lodge…..and then sorted themselves out by getting a Taxi back.
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Re: Lost in Lairig Ghru

Postby Scraggygoat » Fri Oct 22, 2021 12:13 pm

Duplicate post deleted
Last edited by Scraggygoat on Fri Oct 22, 2021 12:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Lost in Lairig Ghru

Postby al78 » Fri Oct 22, 2021 1:43 pm

Scraggygoat wrote:I was sat at Corrour Bothy once when a party of 8 crossed the bridge and walk to the Bothy looking up at the Devils Point path they convinced themselves that since it was a well made path and it came from a bridge, and that the Ghru was the ‘only’ route, that it must be the top of the pass and Aviemore was beyond.


The high level route from Corrour to Aviemore over the 4000'ers sounds like a great alternative to the Lairig Ghru in good weather and visibility. In fact it would be reasonable to walk the high level route from Aviemore, stay overnight in Corrour, then walk back to Aviemore through the Lairig Ghru.
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Re: Lost in Lairig Ghru

Postby Scraggygoat » Fri Oct 22, 2021 2:52 pm

Once you have covered the approach distance and gained the height to the plateau the going is quick. Obviously there are many ways of tackling the Cairngorm 4000ers from linking with the other 4000ers for the hard core, doing in a day, ski touring, backpacking over a couple, doing each side as separate trips, or as a traditional connection route etc.

When my partner used to get Friday off and we had decided to go West she would commonly get the bus to Braemar and then jog through, or go over the tops on one, or other side depending on the weather, or her inclination. I’d then drive round after work to chauffeur further West. She’d always be in Aviemore a couple of hours ahead of me.

It’s also a great place for a night outing in the right weather. I got very excited one winters evening camped in one of the Breariach corries to an inversion forming under a full moon and completely still. So decided to regain the summit and walk the plateau round to Carn Toul. I hoped that I might get a Brocken spectre by moonlight. But sadly the inversion thickened and fogged the hill, so the walk was an eerie monochrome of grey cloud with silver streaks and the odd star where it thinned, occasional glimpses of far hillsides and a monochrome snow scape with reasonable visibility 200m or so, underneath. The cloud deaden all sound so apart from our footsteps there was absolutely no noise. We had a bit of faff and had to get the rope out to find the gap in the cornice (found first time but I wasn’t willing to play Russian roulette in case I’d got it wrong) at the col between Angels Peak and Carn Toul, which would allow our descent to the Lochan. We hoped we’d pop out the bottom of the cloud on our way down to the Garbh Corrie refuge but the further we descended on perfect neve, the thicker and darker it became and we lost all the silver hues, then all ambient light. Finally the torches failed to penetrate on high settings, just being reflected back blinding us and we had to regain the tent in our own little universe comprising a bubble of low light like two little aliens in their on spherical space ships.

Should have just walked back round the plateau in the silver world, lesson learned.

One day I’ll get a night time brocken!
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Re: Lost in Lairig Ghru

Postby Arthurs Eat » Sat Oct 23, 2021 7:45 pm

Anyone can be caught out and perhaps getting away with it for a long time can breed a little complacency. Having hiked around hill and dale for over thirty years without serious incident I perhaps fell into this category. In early June I was walking the Pennine Way alone and had covered about 200 miles as I passed the village of Alston. Crossing a style, I fell over and twisted my ankle. Being unfamiliar with such a straightforward injury a decision had to be made as my ankle was very sore. I decided that there was a possibility that I could possibly walk out the injury so I checked the map and noted a farm track about a mile or so further on. This track went back up to the road and As much as it pained me, I decided this point to be the decision point. My reckoning being that I could continue on if all seemed well or call a halt at the road where there was the possibility of relatively easy recovery. Beyond the track recovery would quite possibly require a call to MRT as I would be in relatively open country. In the end, by the time I reached the track, the discomfort was increasing and calling a halt was the correct thing to do. It was a real shame as I was going good guns and really felt on top of the walk and enjoying myself at the time of the accident. I’ll have to find he time to complete the walk next spring and look forward to doing so. The lesson for me being misfortune can befall anyone at any time. Hopefully having and adaptable, workable plan is key.
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Re: Lost in Lairig Ghru

Postby Sunset tripper » Thu Oct 28, 2021 12:11 am

Scraggygoat wrote: I hoped that I might get a Brocken spectre by moonlight.

I've often wondered about that, has anyone ever seen one?
I have seen quite a few (daytime) Brocken Spectres over the years and fogbows also but more rarely
https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=101418

I heard about the waterfall Moonbows in Yosemite and went searching for one in Scotland. I decided the Falls of Kirgaig would be the best location. Plenty water and hopefully a low near full moon to the west. I tried twice in the depths of winter very early morning but got the moons and weather wrong but I think it should be a good location and Scotland is supposedly a great place to see such things though no luck for me just yet. :(

All advice is welcome. :D
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Re: Lost in Lairig Ghru

Postby Scraggygoat » Thu Oct 28, 2021 8:18 am

I have seen a rainbow by moonlight, it didn’t have any prismatic colours (or not to my old eyes), but was still very distinct. Never thought of looking for one in waterfall spray, cunning.

If you can see a moon rainbow I can’t see why a moon broken wouldn’t be possible. Obviously it would need to be very intense rather than a weak one to see, so conditions would have to be neigh on perfect.
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Re: Lost in Lairig Ghru

Postby prog99 » Sun Nov 14, 2021 5:02 pm

Scraggygoat wrote:I have seen a rainbow by moonlight, it didn’t have any prismatic colours (or not to my old eyes), but was still very distinct. Never thought of looking for one in waterfall spray, cunning.

If you can see a moon rainbow I can’t see why a moon broken wouldn’t be possible. Obviously it would need to be very intense rather than a weak one to see, so conditions would have to be neigh on perfect.

I must have been really close last night but nothing. Plenty of moonbows and I was casting a shadow but maybe it wasn't intense enough. The moon was bright enough to create lens flares on my camera.
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Re: Lost in Lairig Ghru

Postby Sunset tripper » Tue Nov 16, 2021 9:04 pm

prog99 wrote:I must have been really close last night but nothing. Plenty of moonbows and I was casting a shadow but maybe it wasn't intense enough. The moon was bright enough to create lens flares on my camera.


Any photos of the moonbows?
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Re: Lost in Lairig Ghru

Postby prog99 » Tue Nov 16, 2021 11:55 pm

Sunset tripper wrote:
prog99 wrote:I must have been really close last night but nothing. Plenty of moonbows and I was casting a shadow but maybe it wasn't intense enough. The moon was bright enough to create lens flares on my camera.


Any photos of the moonbows?

Would have loved to but they were really faint so would have needed a tripod and a long(around 10secs) exposure.

I've attached one with the camera wedged in the summit cairn but no moon bow as looking the wrong way. The inversion was bouncing around quite a bit.
Was one of the best days ever on the hills. Even the overnight rain on the summit bivvy didn't dampen things.
0FC55DE8-CD62-4A1D-BBD6-CFB189B3B31C_1_201_a.jpeg
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