The BBC are to show a new documentary “One Wild Winter in the Scottish Mountains” focusing on the 2012 winter on Scotland’s peaks. The programme will be shown on Wednesday December 11 at 9pm on BBC 1 Scotland.
“The Scottish Mountains are Britain’s biggest playground. Every winter thousands of people want to experience them at their most magnificent. In an age of mobile technology, many of these adventurers carry cameras. The size and quality of modern day cameras allow people to capture extraordinary images thousands of feet up. Tales of triumph and of tragedy are captured in the most immediate and intimate way. Incredible, near death experiences are recorded and recounted by avalanche survivors. The tragic event that occurred at Glencoe January 19 was one of Scotland’s worst climbing accidents. Four young and experienced climbers died as an avalanche gave way and carried them down the mountain. Two of the victims’ families share their emotional stories.”
The film illustrates how cutting edge science can provide answers for what causes an avalanche and what can be done to avoid getting caught in one. Experts featured range from leading Swiss snow scientists, who reveal how an avalanche forms using state of the art technology, and Met Office meteorologists, experienced Scottish mountain guides and skiers.
Among the contributors is Mark Diggins, senior forecaster at the Sport Scotland Avalanche Information Service. Everyday Mark and his colleagues report online the avalanche risk in the 5 most popular mountain areas of Scotland, and he explains how the conditions in the Scottish Highlands this past winter provided the perfect storm for avalanche creation.
Mark commented “[The film] contains some very good information about avalanche hazard and how we interact with it. Its focus is the winter that we have just experienced in Scotland and draws on experiences and knowledge from further afield which helps illustrate the challenges of hazard evaluation, human factors and the impact of avalanche tragedy.
It is a very powerful program and I would recommend you take the opportunity to watch it.
The programme will also feature footage filmed by contributors to Walkhighlands’ ‘Walk Reports’ section of our forum.