For my third day with Darren we had an outline plan to complete the Carn Mor Dearg arete on Ben Nevis. Unfortunately, as always, plans need to be adaptable and we walked from the dam to find increasingly strong winds and drifting snow. So we changed the plan to visiting the CIC hut and spending some time working on winter skills near the hut. This suited Darren as he had never had a chance to see the North Face of Ben Nevis and the CIC hut plus he had tired legs after our last 2 full mountian days.

As we walked up the final steepening to the hut we were met by three walkers who had witnessed someone being caught in a small avalanche near the area known as the Organ Pipes (a buttress below the hut where several small ice falls form). I went to the hut, called in the accident to the Fort William police and summoned a group from the hut to help. Darren very kindly agreed to walk back to the vehicle at the Dam with another mountaineer and I headed across to find a man who had tumbled down steep rocky ground and had severe multiple injuries. We did our best to stabilise him and keep him as comfortable as possible before a helicopter from RAF Lossiemouth transported him to the Belford hospital in Fort William. Later in the day I was asked to give a statement to the police and my hope is the gentleman will make a good recovery.

The casualty was a very experienced climber and he had just been knocked off balance by a small section of snow that slid as he travelled across it. As with many Scottish avalanches it was the broken ground he travelled over which caused the injuries and the accident provided a sobering reminder about the serious nature of the mountains in winter. Many thanks to everyone that put in a great team effort to help on the mountain.