Cairngorm Plateau disaster
This disaster has several similarities.
1) The weather changed dramatically
2) One of the group was found crawling up a slope , knees bent almost frozen, hands clenched to get help.
3) Two of the students had got out of their sleeping bags and lay on top of them.
4) Several students were found sheltering in a snow hole/ ditch. (One survived)
5) starting the hike late in the day.
6) The two older members left the students in the snow hole and went to get help as the situation was dire , one collapsed quickly and the other member left them and made the decision that she had to keep moving. ( That must have been a difficult decision and one that makes me think it must have been similar on the slope for Zina. To note, both females seemed to have lasted the longest?)
7) The group split up , twice .
Details and back groundhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairngorm_Plateau_disaster Two videos below retell the event's ( unfortunately they have music for effect)
https://youtu.be/05T03vfK0-8?si=7Lc0ihs7sJAIDwrfhttps://youtu.be/7HQ9vRKN5Es?si=Umxzrza8sO38fUZK Recent news article below A survivor of Britain’s worst mountain disaster has recalled the tragedy for the first time ahead of special 50th anniversary memorial services.
https://news.stv.tv/highlands-islands/remembering-the-children-who-froze-to-death-on-school-tripPatricia Cameron lost five teenage school friends and their teacher when they froze to death in an unprecedented November storm in the Cairngorms in 1971 during a trip designed to improve their navigation skills.
Survivor recollection below ( has some black and white film )
https://youtu.be/hlCCGPuuRzo?si=iIJ-nBJI3UKWIK8zAt 4000 feet on Saturday, November 20, climbing club members from Edinburgh’s Ainslie Park School split into two groups amid deteriorating weather.
A more experienced party, led by 23-year-old Ben Beattie and including Patricia, headed to the sanctuary of the high-level Curran bothy, where they remained overnight before heading back down the mountain the following day.
But when they reached the safety of Rothiemurchus at 5.30pm on the Sunday, they realised the other group was missing and alerted police in Aviemore.
Mrs Cameron remembers the fierce weather conditions on the way down and recalls the desperation of the children to get back to safety.
“The conditions were appalling, it was a complete white-out,” she said, speaking about the disaster for the first time from her home in Edinburgh.
“It was fine when we left. We got up the chairlift, stopped at the Ptarmigan café, then we left there and got so far up the mountain when it changed.
“Even the following day, coming down was probably more traumatic than going up.”
Led by 21-year-old Catherine Davidson, the less-experienced climbers had attempted to dig a snow hole in freezing, 100mph winds on the Cairngorm Plateau, but were soon engulfed just a few hundred yards short of the shelter.
By the Sunday evening, a major search and rescue operation was underway for the missing climbers and, from the air, a helicopter crew spotted a severely frostbitten Ms Davidson’s bright red jacket as she crawled on her hands and knees.
That sighting led them to discover the bodies of five children and instructor Sheelagh Sunderland, but miraculously, the other survivor from the less experienced group, 15-year-old pupil Raymond Leslie, was pulled free from four feet of snow by an RAF rescuer using an avalanche pole for the first time.
Marty Rowe, who was part of the RAF Kinloss Mountain Rescue Team, recalled: “We started to dig away the layers of snow and the young lad was lying in a slight ditch, which probably saved his life.
The snow had closed over him and insulated him a wee bit. As we were digging, we saw slight movement of his limbs and thought ‘this guy’s alive’.”
The disaster led to considerable debate about the value of mountain bothies. While experienced climbers credited the huts with saving lives, others claimed they had tempted the less well prepared onto the hills.
A fatal accident inquiry found no one was to blame, but led to the demolition of two high-level bothies and sparked an overhaul into the training and safety of children taking part in outdoor pursuits.
Looking back now, Mrs Cameron doesn’t know if the trip was poorly planned.